I heard about a man recently in Minnesota who clearly needs to choose another profession. His name is Rafiq Abdul Mortland. Mortland had committed a string of robberies, and fortunately for him, he was eventually caught. I say fortunately, because during his crime spree, Mortland received the nickname, “The Rolaids Robber.” The reason he received this nickname was that, while he was robbing their store, he repeatedly asked store clerks for antacid tablets. Mortland needed the antacid because of the stress that came from committing the robberies. Maybe he can relax now. He is serving a sentence of eight to ten years in prison. (1)
Any of you take Rolaids, by the way? Don’t answer that. Different people have different ways of dealing with stress.
I also read a news story recently about a man in Germany who was arrested for screaming. Residents in the town of Aachen, Germany called police complaining about a series of loud yells coming from a local forest. They found this 25-year-old man who explained that walking in the forest at night and screaming as loudly as he could was his way of dealing with stress. The man’s screams frightened his neighbors and prompted them to call police. He now faces a fine of 75 euros. “That stressed him out again,” said a police spokesman, “but officers told him not to go in the forest this time.” (2)
Have you ever felt absolutely overwhelmed? Have you felt like walking away from your desk and just screaming about your work responsibilities, perhaps? Or your financial responsibilities? Or your family responsibilities?
It has been estimated that 90 percent of all doctor’s visits can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to stress, to the feeling of being overwhelmed. When you think about the stress that many of us are carrying due to the slowing economy, that alone can be a little troubling. (Just a little something else for you to worry about.)
Here is what researchers have found. Stress not only keeps us awake at night, it also suppresses the body’s immune system, which makes us vulnerable to all manner of illnesses. We get sick which may cause us a host of other problems related to missing work and the inability to fulfill other responsibilities and that just leads to more stress. It’s a downward cycle that rarely has a happy ending. (3)
What do you do when you are feeling overwhelmed? I want to suggest a simple formula taken from our lesson for the day from the Gospel of John. It is a story told several times in the Gospels and therefore is well-known to you all.
Jesus is on a mountainside with his disciples. When he looks up he sees a great crowd coming toward him. He says to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”
Here is a situation when any normal person would be overwhelmed. It is almost time for dinner and suddenly they discover that they have 5,000 uninvited guests. Wait! That’s just the men. Surely there are women and children as well a veritable army. Jesus asked Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” They obviously didn’t have 7-Eleven on speed dial. Besides it would take a full supermarket to feed that many people. John says that Jesus asked how they were going to feed the multitude only to test Philip, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip has no idea how they will feed this mob. He says to Jesus, “Eight months’ wages wouldn’t buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Things look pretty dismal. There is no way they can feed all these people. At least, that is how it appears. Then Andrew speaks up. “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Then Jesus says something interesting, “Have the people sit down.” And that’s what they did. They had the people sit down. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the leftovers.
That’s the story. So, how do you deal with overwhelming situations? Let me suggest some simple steps.
First of all, sit down. I can just see Philip frantically running around, “What shall we do? What shall we do?” Jesus knew that panic never solved any problem. “Have the people sit down.”
A lecturer on stress managemen raised a glass of water and asked his audience, “How heavy is this glass of water?” Various answers were called out. Then he replied, “The weight really doesn’t matter. What matters is how long you try to hold it.
“If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem,” he said. “If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.
“And that’s the way it is with stress,” he said. “If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on. You have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home tonight,” he continued, “put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!” (4)
That may be the great thing about worship. It’s a time when we can sit still and reflect, and listen to the voice of God. Jesus knew it was important to settle the crowd down. And so he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down.” Mark adds the interesting detail that they sat down in groups of fifty and 100 (Mark 6:40).
You see, the problem with feeling overwhelmed is that we see our problems coming at us from every direction, and so it keeps us from solving the problem right in front of us. Which leads me to ask this question, Do you know the best way to swat a fly?
Stay with me now. According to the scientific journal Nature, the best way to swat a fly is to take a piece of tissue paper in each hand. Approach the fly with your hands equidistant from the fly on both its right and left sides, moving your hands to and fro slightly. Then, with both hands, simultaneously pounce.
This advice is soundly grounded in what has been called, “fly-neuroscience.” It seems that a fly cannot cope with this situation of being approached from two directions at once. Its central nervous system is geared to avoid approaching movement in only one part of its visual field at a time. Two simultaneously approaching threats render the fly immobile. It now cannot compute at which angle to take off. (5)
You and I are like that fly. If we’re expending energy worrying about all the things that lie out ahead of us, we cannot effectively focus on the task at hand. No wonder Jesus said on another ocassion, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Mt. 6:34). “Have the people sit down.” That’s where we begin. Sit down. Calm down. Focus on what’s immediately before you.
Here’s the second thing: acknowledge that God has a plan. I like the way a church sign said it, “If your knees are knocking, kneel on them.”
John says that Jesus asked Philip how they were going to feed all these people to test him, for Jesus already had in mind what he was going to do. God has a plan. Do you really believe God is unaware of your need? Do you believe that God has the ability to meet your needs? Then relax. God will provide. There’s power in trusting God. The same God who multiplied the fishes and the loaves that day long ago can give you the resources you need to meet your obligations.
Sometimes we have to go through some painful situations before we discern God’s hand in our life. We often can see God’s hand only in the rear view mirror. But God is always there. God is always available. God’s will is for our best good.
An anonymous poet reflected on the name that God used when speaking to Moses. Remember that scene? Moses asked God to tell him His name and God replied,
“I AM WHO I AM. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Ex 3:13-14) This unknown poet writes:
My name is I AM. If you live in the past, It will be very hard, for I am not there. My name is not I WAS.
And if you live in the future, It will be very hard, For my name is not I WILL BE.
But if you live in the present, It is not hard, For my name is I AM. (6)
The great I AM is with us. Relax. God has a plan.
Here’s the third step: make a beginning. Andrew came forward to say there was a boy present with five small barley loaves and two small fish. It wasn’t much, but it was a beginning. That would give them something with which to start.
Where are your fishes and loaves? Even Christ had to start somewhere. What are the resources that you have today to make your situation better? Take an inventory. Get started with what you have right now. There are many people who suffer from paralysis by analysis who worry so much about a problem that they never really confront it. Sometimes they can be very religious about this. “Well, I’m going to pray about this and when God gives me a sign, then I’ll get started doing something about it.” Friend, this message is your sign. Make a beginning.
Worried about losing your job? What are you doing today to prepare yourself for the next one, should you lose yours? Who knows, if you get started today researching the possibilities you might find a better job than the one you have now. Worried about your finances? Have you ever gotten around to making that budget that the financial planner recommended? There are many people today who are discovering they can live better on less. The point is to get started tackling whatever task is at hand.
Oh, I know this is easier said than done, but great things come from small beginnings. As someone has said, “Winning starts with beginning.”
An old fable tells of a young bear cub that was puzzled as to how to walk. He asked an old she-bear, “Shall I move my right paw first or my left, or my two front paws together, or the hind ones, or all four at once, or how?”
In reply the old she-bear growled, “Leave off thinking and walk.” Sometimes that is what God says to us. Quit analyzing the problem to death and get moving. Sit down. Acknowledge that God has a plan. Make a beginning.
And finally, gather up leftovers for the next time. Chances are you’re going to make it through whatever problem is about to overwhelm you right now. The question is, what will you take from this experience? Christ instructed his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” Why did he do that? I’m sure at least one of them was grumbling, “Why save the leftovers? He can just do the same miracle again tomorrow.” That’s not the point. Leftovers are important.
Whenever you go through a difficult experience you should learn something about how the world operates, and you should grow stronger in your ability to handle life’s difficulties. Each experience in life should make us a better person. That happens when we gather up the leftovers.
One thing we are sure to discover is that we were right to trust God. That’s a good thing to learn to prepare ourselves for another time of testing.
On April 10, 1963, the nuclear submarine Thresher went too deep into the ocean and was crushed by the surrounding water. It imploded into such tiny bits that almost nothing could be later identified. You see, a sub needs thick steel bulkheads to withstand the pressure of the water as it dives. But there are few walls that can withstand the pressure of the deepest oceans; even steel gives way, as the crew of the Thresher tragically discovered.
“And yet isn’t it fascinating that, in those same deep waters where that steel submarine had been crushed, little fish swim without a care in the world? What is their secret? Why aren’t they crushed? Are they made of some new indestructible iron?
No, they possess only the thinnest layer of skin . . . The little fish, it seems, have an internal pressure that perfectly corresponds to the pressure from the outside. God gave them what they need to swim in the deep places.” (7)
And God will give us what we need when we swim in deep places. What do we do when we are overwhelmed? Learn from this beautiful story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Sit Down. Acknowledge that God has a plan. Make a beginning. After you come through the experience, pick up the leftovers. Use the experience to prepare yourself for the next time you are tested. You are not alone. The same God who multiplied the fishes and the loaves is with you. Remind yourself that you are in the presence of the great I AM.
1. Daily Grace: Devotional Reflections to Nourish Your Soul (Colorado Springs: Cook Communications, 2005), p. 64.
2. Bobeht Basleh, Editor, Oddly Enough (London: MO: Publications Ltd., 2004).
3. Zig Ziglar, Better Than Good (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2006), p. 36.
4. Teddi’s Humor, teddi@alohabroadband.com.
5. Boston Globe, http://net.bible.org/illustration.php?topic=975.
6. David Jeremiah, Slaying The Giants In Your Life (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2001), p. 67.
7. Tim Stafford, Unhappy Secrets of the Christian Life. Cited in Ibid., pp. 101-102.