How To Remove Anxiety From Your Life
Tom Shrader addresses anxiety in a world of constant change, drawing from Jesus' parable of the rich fool in Luke 12 and Paul's teaching in Philippians 4. He offers six practical strategies for removing anxiety: believing God's promises, pursuing His priorities, praying for His involvement, giving thanks for His faithfulness, experiencing His peace, and sharing His eternal perspective on life's brevity.
“What you know trumps what you feel.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: How to Stay Afloat in a World Circling the Drain (2013)
Recorded: 2013 at Cannon Beach Conference Center
Duration: 1 hr 1 min
Themes: anxiety, worry, peace, trust, prayer, gratitude, priorities, perspective
Scripture: Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:30-31, Luke 12:33, Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Timothy 6:6-8, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Thessalonians 5, John 14:27, Psalm 39:4-7, Psalm 90:12
Theological Themes: providence, god's sovereignty, philippians, biblical wisdom, spiritual peace, thanksgiving, eternal perspective, trusting god
Full Transcript
You may be seated. Thank you very much. That was awesome. Good evening. Great to see you. I hope you had a good day.
It was kind of weird in the sense that you get in the rhythm of the session in the morning, and then the break, and then coming in, and to have that open, and to listen to you. There were so many different things. Some of you went to the seaside and jumped, and some of you went on one of the tours. Some of you worked on the audio.
It was weird for me today. Sandy got up and ran, and so that throws an extra burden on me because I'm now sleeping for two. I woke up exhausted. We missed breakfast and walked down to Pig and Pancake, where I had one of my favorite meals, pigs in a blanket. I love pigs in a blanket. The only problem with pigs in a blanket is the phrase, "you are what you eat," keeps popping into my mind as I eat that.
I was in an IHOP. An IHOP is taking pigs in a blanket off the menu. I don't understand that. That seems like it's a core fundamental staple of IHOP. She told me she could bring me pancakes and sausage and some assembly required, and I could make my own. So we did that.
We came back, and I think I laid down and got up, went down and had a hot dog. I'm a big salmon guy. I had a hot dog and then went back up and took another nap. So I should be really rested, but I'm exhausted as I come before you tonight.
The Pressure of Tomorrow
Tomorrow is probably a tough day because we get up early, and I hope you heard the homemade donuts because that could be the hook for tomorrow morning. We get up early, then we have two sessions, and then it's getaway night too, trying to pack. I don't know how you are, but I start to get nervous and anxious getting all that there and getting everything organized and getting everything ready to go. I can feel that pressure mounting. And so that fits into tonight.
You have outlines in the spirit of college football kicking off. How great is this? Just to be able to say that is awesome. I'm going to pull a bit of an audible for you. You'll notice two things. One, on the outline tonight, there are no blanks. I discovered last night that we have Canadians here, and those blanks were just thrown for a loop. So I went ahead. I figured we're not going to use any blanks anymore. We'll give you the answer.
I'm going to skip all the way down to the last bullet point, which is removing anxiety from your life. Let me remind you what we're talking about. It's how to stay afloat in a world that's circling the drain, and the idea is that things are changing, and some change is good. Some change is not so good.
A Hero Named John Wooden
One of my heroes in life is a guy that some of you would know. I tend to be sports guys. John Wooden, Coach John Wooden. About five years ago, I got a call from a friend of mine who played on the UCLA championship team in 1964. He called, and he said, "I was just through Phoenix. I didn't call you. I feel bad, but I just called to see how you're doing."
He said, "Fine." I said, "How's the wizard?" Meaning the wizard of Westwood, Coach Wooden. He said, "He's good. He's slowing down." He was 97 or something at the time. I said, "I'm slowing down a bit myself." Long pause. I'm thinking, okay, here we go. This is the big chance.
He said, "You want to come over and meet with him?" I said, "Yeah, I love it." He said, "Let me call him because he's very busy." He sounds busy for 97. He called back. He said, "March 17th, 1 o'clock is the time he's got." I said, "I'll be there."
The Hair Situation
At the time, I was going through a thing with my hair. My hair is a little ratty right now. I've been on the road, and I'm picky about who cuts it. At the time, my hair was down in here. It was very long. You're shaking your head. You've seen it before, or you just agree? It was really long.
I'm talking to my brother. He said, "You're going to go see Coach?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "Are you going to get a haircut?" I said, "I don't think so." He said, "You think he's going to like that?" I said, "Maybe he's mellowed." He said, "They don't mellow when they get to 97. He's going to be hardcore."
Meeting Coach Wooden
Coach Wooden was awesome. It was this meeting. We were getting ready to go up. His condo was on like a half level. We're going up, and there's a lady. She sees us going up, and she said, "Are you going up to see Coach?" I was with Keith, and he said, "Yes, we are." She said, "Tell him his porch light's on."
The elevator opens, and there is this iconic figure in my mind growing up in his cardigan blue sweater, just exactly what you would expect. She said, "Coach, Coach, your porch light's on." And we navigated from this iconic sporting news coach of the century to this little old man. We walked in his condo, and there's an office that's his. We start in, and he said, "Boys, sit down. I have to go get that light."
This office was filled. It was a small office. I'm not exaggerating. Maybe from here to the wall and as wide as from the beginning of the platform to here. On the wall behind me was the sporting news coach of the century plaque. That just seems like a big deal. And then taped on it were his great grandkids' scribbling. There were all of these things around. There was not one picture of a player, only pictures of teams.
I was kind of determined to not ask him stuff. I said going in, "I'm really nervous." So I said to Keith, "What do I do?" And he said, "Just talk to him. Everybody goes in and says this is the most exciting moment of my life. And then they talk for an hour, and they never let him talk. So just ask him questions." And I said, "About what?"
A Conversation That Changed Everything
He said, "Just ask him. He'll answer." And he said, "Trust me, if he doesn't want to answer, he's not going to answer. But let him talk first."
So he talked a little bit, and then he said, "Tom, tell me about you." And I said, "Oh my gosh, what do I want to know about you?" I want to ask you stuff that maybe I couldn't read. Talk about growing up, because his hero was his dad. The only girl he ever dated was Nell, who he married, who had died like 20 years before.
I wanted so bad to say, "Coach, I want to go in your bedroom." But I didn't know a nice way to say that. But on the bed, he's never slept on her half. On the first Friday of the month, he writes a letter. They are stacked in there. No one's ever opened them. Now that he's died, I don't know if that's happened.
So I said, "Coach, what kind of music do you listen to?" And he said, "Oh, all kinds. How about you?" And I said, "Oh, all kinds. I love the Mills Brothers." He was born in 1910. He was the college player of the year in 1932. He was married right after college, and a bank had foreclosed and all of his money was gone.
I said, "I love the Mills Brothers." He said, "We went to Indianapolis to get married. We stayed at the hotel, and the Mills Brothers were playing there that night." He said, "Let me play some music for you." He went over and got this tape player, this cassette player, and he was trying to get it to work. It couldn't work. It wouldn't work. I said, "Coach, it's not important." And he said, "Well, it is to me now." I took that to mean shut up and sit there, you little runt.
The Wisdom of Experience
Finally, he put this in, and it was "Stardust." Every old person's favorite song is "Stardust." He played "Stardust," and we talked. We talked about basketball, which is obviously a huge part of his life, though he prefers teaching English.
I said, "Do you watch basketball anymore?" And he said, "I really only watch girls' basketball. I watch the guys come because I have to because they'll call and ask me about it. But I only watch the girls' basketball because they still pass and they still dribble and they don't dunk." He said, "I go to the games." I said, "Do you go to Poly Pavilion?" He said, "You know, they're so nice to me at UCLA." I'm thinking, they named the court after you. I mean, you built the thing.
So in this, we're talking about change. I said, "What do you think about that? I mean, you know, it's so different. Just the uniform." So this will excite some of you ladies. This would be how the uniforms used to be, and now they're down below the knee.
I said, "What do you think about that? It's a lot of change." And he uttered this sentence to me. He said, "All progress is change, but not all change is progress."
When Everything Changes
You live in a world that's constantly changing. It seems like or feels like it's changing so fast that the things that were hard, fast rules 15 or 20 years ago are obsolete. Whether it's fashion or music, even financial planning.
My father was a banker, a very conservative banker. He was with the largest bank, independent bank, family-owned bank in the state of Iowa. There's a term that the Scripture uses to describe investing as steady plodding. That was my dad.
Some of you will remember we had things like Christmas Club. Do you remember that? Where you actually put away as little as a quarter a week so that when it came to December, you'd have some money assembled because you would not buy. We didn't have a credit card. I didn't know what a credit card was.
My mom saved dimes. I don't know why dimes. She kept them in the freezer. I don't know why freezer other than cold cash was the only thing we were ever able to come up with. If my dad were alive five years ago during that banking crisis, he would have been out of His mind. But he could have told you it was coming. You can't lend money on the come and think everybody's going to pay. You can't do that.
The Stress of Modern Life
But things are changing in your life. Here's the deal. Some of it is good change. Some of it isn't. But almost all of it produces a level of anxiousness.
Taking it a different way, driving a certain way. Sandy and I just drove from Phoenix to Laguna Beach, and she had GPS on her phone. She was telling me which way to go. If we get lost, it isn't going to matter. We're on a toll road, and that really threw me for a loop. I couldn't get the quarters to work, and the dollar didn't go in. I was exhausted at the end of this idea of change.
We talked about adversity last night, and we said that is certain. I want to talk about anxiety tonight. It is equally certain, and it has huge ramifications.
The National British Health Association released a report several years ago that said over 50% of visits to doctor's offices are due to stress, which makes stress more common than the common cold. If you go to the doctor, and part of that is I think they create this. My doctor asks me this all the time: "Are you under stress?" I'm going, "I couldn't be any more relaxed. I'm sick." Which is stressful now that I think about it.
The Reality of Stress
One biologist has defined stress this way: stress is essentially the wear and tear of living. It's just life.
On your outline, there's a story that I want to look at. We're not going to concentrate on it. It's in Luke chapter 12, and it's the parable that Jesus tells. If you want to turn there, I'll just make some quick comments on it, and you can use the outline and figure it all out. But I want to get to those points at the end.
Luke chapter 12 verse 13: "Somebody in the crowd approached Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.' And He said, 'Man, who appointed me judge or arbiter...'"
A Foundation for Understanding Anxiety
Over you? We could talk a lot about that. But here's what Jesus does. Thirty-two times in the Gospels, Jesus tells a story. They're called parables. It's generally when He wants to make a point. He takes a, most often, common, everyday, universally understood item or situation to explain this point.
What He does here is give us a principle and then give us a parable. He said, "Beware, be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has abundance does life consist of our possessions." He said, watch out here. Be careful to this way of thinking. There's a tendency to do it. If I just had this.
I remember one time my dad is visiting and the lottery was, I don't know, $27 million. I said, "What would you do if you won the lottery?" He said, "I'm not going to win the lottery." I said, "What would you do if you won?" He said, "I'm not going to spend a dollar." But I hear people all the time, and we can be in Bible studies and redemption groups in church and talk about if we win the lottery.
I'm not taking some sort of moral stand on lottery. Do whatever it is you're going to do there. What I'm saying is, they'll go, "If I won the lottery." Kind of implied in that is, if I did, all my problems would go away. Then there's that undercurrent. It's typically human. If I just had this stuff, everything would be okay. Jesus said, you better be careful. You better be on your guard against every form of greed.
The Parable of the Rich Man
Here's the parable, verse 16. "The land of a certain rich man was very productive." So I want you to see, this is a guy who's already rich. And now he hits the jackpot. He's not a loser. He's not a wannabe. He's the guy that's on Forbes and Fortune. He's the guy that's on Fox Business. He's the guy that's doing No Money Down Crops. He's the guy that everybody's listening to. And all of a sudden, he hits a super jackpot.
He begins to reason, verse 17, to himself. He goes to his favorite counselor, himself. Look at the singular personal pronouns. "What shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there, I will store all my grain and my goods. I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry."
"And God said, you fool, this very night your soul is required of you. Now who will own what you prepare? So it is with the man who lays up treasure for himself, but is not rich toward God." He says, watch out. There's a source of anxiety that comes with stuff.
The Missing Ingredient: Contentment
One of my favorite passages. I'm not going to go there. I don't think I've ever been, and I think this is my 12th or 13th year at Cannon Beach, and sometimes twice a year. I don't think I've ever taught and not made reference to 1 Timothy 6, 6, 7, and 8. "The godliness plus contentment is a great gain. We came into the world with nothing. We leave with nothing. If we have food and clothing, with those we should be content."
My contention is that one of the missing ingredients in your life, our life, is contentment. I was watching an interview this summer with Brent Snedeker, who won major golf tournaments, wonderful golfer. Then after winning, all of a sudden he hit a slump, which you see often. Rory's going through it now. He said, "I had to process in my mind, when is enough enough?" That's that challenge. You have to have as you face life. How do I keep my focus in a world that says go and get more, and you're evaluated by stuff?
The Trap of Things We Never Knew We Needed
Years ago, Radio Shack had one of the all-time great taglines. They said, "We have thousands of things you never knew you needed." It happened to me this year. I was talking to a friend who runs a golf company. They have something like 30 golf courses, great golf courses, around the southwest. We were talking about golf clubs. He said he had just been down to the Raven, which is one of their courses, with his senior club fitter. He said, "This is the greatest club fitter that we have around."
I said to him, he said to the guy, "What kind of irons are you hitting?" He said, "I'm hitting some new Mizunos, and they're nothing special." He said, "Clubs don't matter except for one club. There's one club that matters. There's one club that is significantly better than every other club in the market, and that's the G25 ping driver."
Now, I like to play golf, which raises the question, are you a good golfer? I probably am compared to you. I don't know that. But I'm not compared to others. I'm probably an eight or nine handicap if I'm playing well. But I haven't played. I've played three times in three years. I haven't played in the last year. We just stayed on a golf course for two weeks, and my hands are so screwed up I couldn't play.
But when he said that about the ping 25, G25, I had to have it. If I can get, he said, "You'll get 20 to 30 yards more with the driver." Well, I'm getting 20 to 30 yards more with the driver. I'm getting 15 to 20 yards further with the ball. Pretty soon I'm going to be hitting it 500 yards. All of a sudden, I went a week obsessing about the G25. I don't need the driver. You just live in that world, isn't it? When's enough enough? Great tension can come into your life and anxiety in your life as you begin to focus on things.
Time to Work: Identifying Your Pressure Points
Now, what I'm not going to do, and you're going to have to. We've got 32 minutes. I don't know that we'll use it all. But I'm going to ask you to do something that you typically don't have to do on a vacation. You're going to have to work now. You're going to have to work for a few minutes. You're going to have to think through in your life those pressure points, those anxiety points.
Again, it may be kids. It may be work. It may be retirement. I'm at that age where every conversation I'm in talks about colonoscopies. PSA. That's all we talk about. Then we're talking about end of life and retirement and business.
Identifying Your Source of Anxiety
What's your number? The number means how much money do you need to retire. And then that number keeps changing. And there's this anxiety. It may be that. It may be health. I've never been in a hospital in my life until a year ago, March, and I spent one night in a hospital. And it was a heart deal, a weird kind of deal. I was teaching like this, and as I'm teaching, my words are all kind of mumbly, and the room is getting dark. I went into my staff meeting, and I tried to explain to the guys what was happening, and I said I was stumbling over my words. So I end up, and they put a stent in there and sent me home. But now health is an issue.
Whatever it is that's creating this anxiety in your life, you've got six things there. Sandy and I were talking this afternoon, because I know she talked to you ladies about anxiety, and I said, what were your points? It was interesting, because she rattled off a whole bunch of stuff that I have here. So that's both encouraging, and the fact it's repetitious to you ladies, should mean you better pay attention.
First Step: Believe the Promises of God
Number one, believe the promises of God. In Luke chapter 12, verse 30, Jesus said the pagans of the world run after such things, what they're going to eat, what they're going to wear, where they're going to live. But your Father knows your needs. And He's promised to meet those needs.
Let's do this, you participate, and some of you have been walking with Christ for a long time, some of you brand new to this. What are some of the promises of God that you find yourself clinging to? What are some of the promises?
So He promises to keep the things that you've committed to Him. Never leave or forsake. Philippians 1:6. He began the work, He'll continue it. Redeems everything I give to Him. Interesting, all women have spoken. So if you want to understand the problem in the culture, you've just got a picture of it right there. That should shut everybody up for a while. That's true though, isn't it? All women.
Pressing on, forgetting the past, reaching forward for which I've been called. Keep me in perfect peace as I trust in Him. Romans 8:28. He's never going to test me beyond that which I can endure. Those are those promises.
The Reality of God's Promises
It's important for us, I think, to understand those promises of God. I don't mean in some sort of artificial way, I mean in a real way. Because they're true. He says in 1 Peter, cast your cares upon me because He cares. He cares.
I had a chance - I was invited to our city council meeting to pray. I assumed the benediction. So I got there and they said, "Reverend," and I said, "Yeah." And they said, "You will close us in prayer." And I said, "Like the end of the council meeting? I didn't plan on staying for the whole thing." And they said, "Yes, yes, you are the end." But I'm a citizen. I'm a good citizen. So I sat through it.
Then the mayor said, "Our blessing tonight is by Pastor Tom Schrader. Pastor Schrader, we pray." And I went up and I said, "Father, we pray to you for two reasons. Number one, because we know you care. Number two, because we know you can do something about it. Please move. Amen." And I think these guys were thrilled. Because every pastor that comes in there, that's kind of their prayerful opportunity to lecture the city council on what needs to happen.
God Really Cares
But He cares. He really cares. Cast your cares on Him because He cares. Someone sent me, and maybe you've seen a version of it - we had had a meeting and apparently I expressed to them some level of anxiety. And they sent me a little frame with a calligraphy that said, "Tom, trust me, I have everything under control. Jesus."
Those promises that you heard uttered and those ones that came to mind that we didn't speak, those are real promises. I'd been a Christian not long. And I went to a Christian bookstore. And I'm checking out. And there is a gold leaf, leather bound book in the front called "The Promises of God." And I'm thinking, well, I should have one of those. I didn't know much. But if He made promises, I know He'll keep them. Then I picked it up. I said, "Do you have a paperback?" You know, leather bounds are a little expensive. And I got it.
Promises That Encourage and Sustain
What happened to me is I found some promises in there that don't always get recited in a group like this. Like, in this world, you will have tribulation. But He promises that He'll sustain you. To me, that's one of the great encouragers.
He began the good work in me. So I didn't start it. I think Art made that point to you the other night. Hopefully, we reinforced it yesterday - He began this good work. And He will continue it. But it's about Him hanging on to me. When we talk about the perseverance of the saints, maybe a little bit better way to say that is the preservation of the saints. It's not me hanging on to Him. Because if I'm hanging on to Him, I'm going to start to shake and let go. But it's Him hanging on to me. Now, sometimes it's an exciting ride. Sometimes He's swinging me around. But it's Him hanging on to me.
What You Know Trumps What You Feel
Those are the promises. I'll never test you beyond that which you can endure. And sometimes it doesn't feel like it. But what you - here you go, you note takers, here you go, write it down - what you know trumps what you feel.
So, Romans 8:28: And we know God causes all things to work together for good. Now, that's not for everybody. But it's for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. So, for you and me, we know it's a fact. We know God causes all things to work together for good. Now, what that verse tells us is that God has to be all-knowing and all-powerful. If He's going to make everything and work it, cause it to work together...
For good, then He must know. If He was all-powerful but not all-knowing, He'd be watching your life and would have said, "Oh man, if I knew that I could have stopped it." Or if He's all-knowing but not all-powerful, He'd go, "Tom, Tom, Tom, don't go down there. Oh, nuts." But He says, "And I know." These are the promises. We walk in these promises.
At the top of the list has to be those who believe in Him have eternal life. As certain of heaven as the saints that are there. That was a big thing for me. From the time I was a little boy, I thought about dying and thought about heaven and hell and navigated my way through it, depending on high school and college and life and where I was going. But I came to this realization. If there was a hell and there was a heaven, I wanted to know, can I go to heaven? And that's what I discovered in the Bible.
Sent Into The World As Light
That becomes the message, by the way, as we go out into the world. Art talked about it the other night. "Father, as you sent me into the world, I'm sending you into the world." So we're going to get done here tomorrow. And you're going to head back to Portland and Seattle and Vancouver and Victoria and all the places. Some of you will lose sanctification on just the drive home, just getting through the toll booth, getting through customs. Some of you have to go through customs. Although getting out is easier than getting in, I think.
But He sends you there to be light into this world. You have the answer to what people are looking for. When they say to you, "Why is your marriage working? Why is your family all together? Why in the midst of all this chaos do you have this peace?" what they're saying to you is, "Tell me about Jesus." Because that's the answer. And those are the promises.
Pursue God's Priorities
Here's the second thing: Pursue God's priorities. Look at chapter 12, verse 31 and 33. "Seek first His kingdom, and these things will be given to you. Sell your possessions. Give them to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out. A treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted where thieves come. No thieves comes near. No moth destroys."
Wouldn't it be interesting if we could write out our priorities for life and then email them to God and simultaneously have Him email back His priorities and see if there were any similarities between the two lists? I can tell you what's a priority to God. His word and the teaching of His word and the gospel and the proclamation of it, the preservation of it, and people. That's what's important. That's His agenda.
That's why a place like Cannon Beach is to me an interesting place. I had no idea that places like this even existed until God saved me. And when you think about buying a chair for here, planting flowers, it's to provide a place where God uses to restore people, maybe to save people. I would say this is part of His priority list. In your life, it's the proclamation of the gospel.
What would He have you do? Well, He would have you love one another, care for one another, but at the core of this, at the heart of this, is the delivering of the gospel. Here you go. Big deal. God is a God of process, not results.
God Is A God Of Process, Not Results
I'm a result guy. I get USA Today. I go to the scores, Iowa 21, Wisconsin 15. I'm happy. I don't care how they scored, who scored. I want the end result. God says, "No, that's not the case with you. Tom, here's what I want you to do. I want you to be obedient, and I'll take care of the results." That's 1 Corinthians 3, where Apollos watered, Paul planted. But God is the one who produces the growth.
In the midst of this anxiety, I need to recalibrate. I need to make sure that I'm back on course, that the priorities of my life, the things that are occupying my time, my energy, my effort, my money, are in line with God's agenda, not just my personal agenda.
Pray For God's Involvement
Here's the third thing, and I'm going to invite you to turn there to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, classic passage. Philippians chapter 4, verse 6. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Pray for God's involvement. Communicate with Him. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5 to pray about everything, to pray without ceasing.
Now, here's what that tells me. If I'm to pray ceaselessly, then it must be more than me in just a moment on my knees. It must be an attitude. It's an attitude of humility and submission. I'm praying. I'm not anxious. Don't be anxious about anything, but pray about everything.
There's that acrostic that we use with prayer: ACTS—adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and I think the order is important. So many in prayer want to race to this idea of "God, here's what I need," but without the process of adoring Him, who He is, what He's done. Confession: "God, here's sin." Thanksgiving: "God, thanks for what you've done." And now there's supplication.
Learning To Pray In Groups
I was born and raised Catholic—grade school, high school, college—so when we prayed, we never prayed in a room out loud unless it was "Our Father in heaven." So I learned this early on in prayer. I'm in a group. We're in a circle. The guy's leading it. I'm sitting to his right. He said, "Let's pray. Start here, we'll end here," and it didn't seem like much when he said it, but then all of a sudden, the prayer started.
"Father, thank you for what you've done here in the city of Phoenix. You're an awesome God. Thank you." And then the next guy, "Father, thank you for what you've done in the state of Arizona. You're an amazing God." And the next one was, "God, thank you for what you're doing in this country," and it was, "God, thank you for what you've done in the western hemisphere," and then "thank you for what you've done in the globe."
Here's what I learned—you don't want to go last because all the good prayers are taken by the time it gets to you. That's what I learned in that. And I learned that I listen, and I don't know if this is right, but I listen to
These guys pray, and I thought, that's kind of bogus. Nobody talks like that. Father, thee are, thou art, those are—who talks like that? To me, prayer is the most honest form of communication you can have because you're communicating with somebody who knows everything, so there's no sense in really dressing it up or trying to hide something. I don't have to be anxious about anything, but I pray about everything. Why? Because He cares about it, and He can do something about it, and pray honestly, repetitively.
Pray with Specificity
Josh McDowell tells this wonderful story as a young man, wanting this 65 Mustang. Didn't have really the money for it, but he wanted it, and somebody older and wiser said to him, pray to God about it, be very specific. "God, I want that Mustang, that 65 Mustang, the one down the corner at 3rd and Main, one in the front yard. God, that's the one I want. It's the one that has the rust spot on the back panel. God, it's the one that needs tires. It's the one where the bumper's falling off. God, I don't think the radio... God, I don't think I want this car." I've learned this beauty of specificity.
Here you go. Here's a little tip. This is not part of the lesson. This is just something you can use in your accountability. I'm not a huge accountability guy, but in these accountability discussions, when somebody says, "I have a problem," make them say what it is. "I have a problem," and that problem is, "Well, I lust after my brother's stuff." What stuff? "Well, the stuff in his house." Well, there's lots of stuff in his... "Well, his boat." He keeps his boat in his house? "Well, it's his boat. I lust after his boat. I wish I had a boat like that."
And here's what I learned. If he says, "I lust after my brother's stuff," you can never hold him accountable to that, or you can never go back or even be used by God in that, because you go, "How are you doing with that?" He says, "Fine." You don't know if it's fine or not, but when you go, "How are you doing with that desire for your brother's boat?" Pray, and I pray for involvement.
Pray with Thanksgiving
Here's the fourth thing in your outline, and for His faithfulness. Philippians chapter 4, verse 6: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer, supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God." Again, I mentioned earlier, Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5, be thankful for everything.
We had a guy on our staff, his name was Chris Christensen. He was a pretty mellow guy, counselor, and that was his favorite verse: "Be thankful for everything." And then he got brain cancer, and they did this surgery, and I tend by nature to be a pessimistic guy. We were talking about this the other day. To me, the glass is half empty and leaking like a sieve. That's the way I see the world.
So he's got brain cancer. You know, you don't get over that, but they do the gamma knife and all the stuff, and he's a little bit better, and he comes in, and he was pretty shaky, and he spoke to our staff. It was probably, by a long way, maybe the least eloquent of any talk that's ever been given to our staff, but maybe one of the most powerful. And he talked about just the anxiety of it, and the embarrassment of it as you're shuffling your way through the market down the street, and we had a chance to watch him die. One of the things that he would come back to over and over again is "in everything give thanks," that God's using us.
God Will Use Everything for Good
Tristan, is that the name, right? Is that really the name? 17, really? Okay. When he was praying tonight, what did he say? He had a great line in his prayer. Stole it from me from last night, but a great line in his prayer. Right? Didn't you steal it from last night? Yes, you did. There's something about honesty. Does your soul feel cleansed? Yes, it does. And what did he say? He said, "God, you'll use it for our good and your glory."
I don't know how He's going to... I don't have to know all this stuff. I don't know who you are to think that God owes you an explanation for everything. I don't know why He's doing this. I don't know why there's that disease or why this happens or why that shock. I listen to heart, what is it, the heart radio, you know, it's the 1,300 stations on the internet. So every day I listen in the afternoon, I listen to 8:30 a.m. radio Honolulu and I get a recap of shows that I missed in the morning.
And today there was a story, a three-year-old boy was in a driveway behind a 37-year-old lady in a RAV4 and she backed over the kid. And so I heard that at 12:30 and then by 1 I heard he was in critical condition and by 1:30 the child had passed away. Now there are a whole bunch of people in Honolulu trying to go, "Why would God do that?" I don't know. I don't know that. And I can give thanks in that because even in those dire situations we see God work in an amazing way, don't we? God, thank You. Thank You for what You've done.
God's Faithfulness in an Age of Broken Trust
And for His faithfulness. He's trustworthy. There's a commodity and it's gone, by the way. It's a commodity that's more rare in our country than gold or silver or diamonds and it's called trust. No one trusts anyone. The Republicans, I was going to say the Republicans don't trust the Democrats. The Republicans don't trust the Republicans. Management doesn't trust labor. Labor doesn't trust management. Husbands don't trust wives. Kids don't trust parents. Parents don't trust kids. That's the commodity we trade on.
And He is trustworthy and we're used to being disappointed. We've put our faith and trust in so many things that have disappointed us over the years. Again, Honolulu today, there was a single engine plane crash. There were guys who had a lot of faith, enough faith to get in that plane and take it off for the Honolulu airport, but they only got it as far as a pineapple field and they dulled it right in the ground. They had trust, but the object that they were trusting to perform a task wasn't capable of carrying it out. He's faithful and He's trustworthy. He'll do all those promises that we said before.
He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. And the result is, verse 7, you experience the peace of God. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
The night before He is killed, Jesus is with the disciples and in John 14:27, He says this: "Peace I leave you, my peace I give you. Not as the world gives, do I give you peace. Don't let your heart be troubled. Don't be fearful." There's a peace that passes all understanding.
Peace Is Not the Absence of Turmoil
Peace is not the absence of turmoil. It's the presence of God. The peace that God brings in your life is not a cessation of the hostility of environments and elements in your life. It doesn't mean that everything is going to be smooth and go away. It's that He's going to join you in the midst of all of this.
It's a peace that doesn't make sense. It's that opportunity you have to demonstrate to the people around you the presence of God so that people are saying to you, "I don't know how you do that. I don't know how you can handle that." And you can say, "I can't. But it's Christ in me."
Jesus said it's peace, not peace as the world gives. When I was a young man, my favorite guy on television is to this day, at least once a week, I'll watch some stuff on YouTube, was Johnny Carson. I love Johnny Carson. A Midwest guy - where was he born? See, everybody says Nebraska. He was raised in Nebraska. He was born in Iowa. He's an Iowa guy. It's that Midwest humor.
I don't know, when Roy Rogers' horse Trigger died, Roy had him stuffed and put in the living room. And Johnny read that and said, "Don't you know Dale's hoping Roy goes first?" Which I thought was a great line.
Carson was amazing. We would every night, you know, my parents didn't stay up for that. They were working. I only had to go to school. And every night at 10:30, you'd stay up until at least 11 to get through Johnny's monologue and a skit.
The Story of Freddie Prinze
And one night, what Johnny did really well was bring on these new comics. So you'd go in there and see Letterman for the first time and Leno for the first time and Seinfeld for the first time and Ellen for the first time and a guy by the name of Freddie Prinze. We have to say now, Freddie Prinze Sr. This kid came on, and he was this Puerto Rican kid from New York. And he was funny. He was funny. He didn't have anything. Just this poor kid.
Three, four years later, he comes on Johnny Carson, and he's promoting a new show that he's doing called Chico and the Man with he and Jack Albertson. Remember that? One day after taping the show, he goes back to his apartment, gets a gun, puts it to his head, and blows his brains out.
And I remember thinking, this doesn't make any sense to me. He should have been blowing his brains out when he didn't have anything. See, we'll go, "peace that the world gives." What the world gives is, say, "Here's a piece you can buy or touch or smoke or feel. Here's a thing. If you get that, you'll be happy." That's the lie that you have.
The Cycle of False Peace
That's why, and this is statistically accurate, second marriages fail at a higher rate than first marriages, third higher than second, fourth higher than third, fifth higher than fourth. But you're in this marriage, and you say, "Gosh, I need to get out of this." That's how we go.
You go through this process: "Oh, oh, God, if he would just ask me out, I'd be so happy." Oh, he'd ask me out. "If we would just go steady, I'd be so happy." Oh, God, oh, God, "if he'd just ask me to be married, I'd be happy." Oh, God, we're married. "Oh, if he'd just leave, I'd be so happy." That's the cycle of a relationship, is that I'd just be happy all the way through this process.
The world says, "Listen, dump the jerk and get a new one. Dump her. Here you go, guys. Dump her. The 2014 models are out." So we go from guy to guy to guy, gal to gal to gal, job to job to job, and we think we're going to be happy or have peace there. And He said, "No, it's not the absence of turmoil. It's not the presence of stuff. It's not having a hit TV show." It's the presence of God in your life, and you will have a peace that will transcend all understanding.
Begin to Share God's Perspective
It's the last thing on your list, and begin to share God's perspective. You may want to turn there, or at least, I don't know if the reference is on there. Let me make sure I give it to you. It's Psalm 39, verse 4 through 7. Very similar to Psalm 90. Psalm 39: "Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days, and let me know how fleeting life is."
Psalm 90, I think it's Psalm 90, verse 12: "Teach us to number our days aright that we might gain a heart of wisdom." There's something about understanding the finiteness of life.
My father, I used to go home every August for a week and play golf with my dad. We'd play every day. We're driving home one day from the club, and he said, "Will you do me a favor?" I said, "Uh, yeah, I guess. I don't know. What is it?" He said, "Well, your mother and I bought a tombstone at the cemetery, and none of the other boys will go see it, but I knew you would. Will you go see it with me?" I said, "Yeah, sure."
The Cemetery Visit
So we come out, and we're walking in this cemetery. It's beautiful. Old, you know, 200-year-old cemetery trees. We're walking, and he said, "Here it is right here." And it said, "James Edward Schrader," the date of birth, and a dash, and "Helen Irene Schrader," date of birth, and a dash. I said, "Man, that's really nice."
He said, "Carl Fidler's right there. Chet Ligoni's over here." I said, "You understand, you're not having a block party here. You know what I mean? Not like a Fourth of July with flags, right?"
So I'm walking around, and it's a gray stone, and on this side of it, where there's all the detail on that side, on this side, it just says "Schrader." And I got a picture of that, and for a long time, I kept it around. I maybe found it the other day. And I would just... Maybe sooner than I thought. I don't know what that was. I got no idea.
I had a moment of frustration recently. You know those times when you see something really clearly, and it's big to you, and then you explain it to others and it just falls flat? This might be one of those moments, but bear with me anyway.
There's this duality that I struggle with. The big thing is, I know I'm going to get old and die, but yet I can't see myself there. The last time I went to visit my grandmother, she was a cool chick. I had four grandparents, and she was the one who was always sick. They all died, but she's still alive.
When Reality Hits Close to Home
I go to see her now, and she's old—old, old. She's ready to go. They're going to take her and put her in a home, and she's going to die there. I used to see her, and she was always give and take. It was always fire a barb, and she'd fire back at you. So I walked in and fired something at her, and nothing. She had taught me a lot.
Her morning radio man was quite a character. I don't know who you have on your drive time radio, but her morning drive time guy was Ronald Reagan on WHO in Des Moines. She loved Dutch. She was the first one I ever heard call him Dutch, and she'd talk about Dutch all the time. She was also a big Twins fan.
She had three things she loved, and none of them were family. She loved the Twins, she loved professional wrestling, and she loved Bobby Knight. I can't stand Bobby Knight, but she used to say, "Tommy, he only has that one plaid coat. Somebody needs to give him some money." I said, "Yeah, I think he's okay." Whenever the Twins were on the West Coast, I could call Grandma at midnight back there, and she'd be up listening.
The Unavoidable Reality
The last time I saw her, I saw her sitting on that couch. I saw her barely able to communicate. I saw her have to go to the bathroom, which required some help getting her in there, and then a couple of the gals stayed with her to help her. And I know—now get this—I know that's my future, but I can't see me there. I know that.
When I get back on the 4th, there's a group called the Camelback Society, and it's a group of young guys, primarily business guys 20 to 30, and I get to go in this time and interview a friend of mine. I try to tell these guys this truth, and I finally got this sentence from a book about old people and young people, speaking to young people: You are where they were, and they are where you'll be.
Learning from Those Who've Gone Before
I love hanging with old people, generally. Some of them get a little too much, but they begin to share this stuff, and they can talk to you about life. They can remind you that none of this stuff really matters. That's hard to say because it's important, but it doesn't really matter.
How many times have I talked to you already about college football? This really doesn't matter. How much of my life is wasted worrying about stuff that really doesn't matter, if I can somehow see it from God's perspective?
I'm on Facebook. I love Facebook. I never post anything. I am bewildered at the stuff that some people will post, but I love reading it. School started for us in Phoenix—half the school started July 22nd, and everybody's been in since August 8th or 9th. So Facebook is filled with posts like, "Bobby's going to school for the first day, and I know he's an exceptional student, an above-average student. Granted, he's eight and doesn't know his colors, but he's an exceptional boy."
Time Flies Whether We Notice or Not
Everyone posts about their kids going off to college, and they all say the same thing. You want to guess what it is? "It went so fast." It goes so fast.
I did both of my daughters' weddings, and I'm at Haley's wedding. So Haley's here, Tyler's here, and we're at that time—I'm not a big wedding guy. I love to do funerals. I am the best funeral guy in the world, and I mean that seriously. I love funerals. Weddings, I'm not big on them. But we're at that time at the end where everybody's done everything, and the musicians have got to get the solo in about love.
We'd taken communion, done everything, and the girl's knocking herself out singing about love. I'm looking at Haley, and I'm looking at Tyler, and I had a similar thought. I thought, "This went so fast," which is scary to me because I know the next 20 years will go even faster.
Sandy and I talk about it all the time. My father lived to be about 83, I think. I'm 63, so that's another 20 years. But I don't know. Let's say I get 20 more. Let's say I get 20 more beyond that—now I'm 103. Somewhere in here, we're going to hit the expiration date. Are we coming to that?
God's Perspective Changes Everything
If I can take that reality and put everything in this context, if I can remember—and here's the summary—that life is temporary and God's in control, that He forgives my sin, that He works all things together, all of a sudden I'm going to be able to see the world from God's perspective, from His view, not mine. And I'm going to find out that so much of this stuff doesn't matter as much as I thought.
Somebody said, "Don't tell me worry doesn't help. Almost everything I worry about never happens." But isn't that true? Isn't that true?
Remember our topic is anxiety. If I can take this eternal perspective and remember God's promises, remember His faithfulness, and trust that He loves us and cares for us, anxiety begins to lose its grip. When we see life from His view instead of ours, we find peace in the midst of uncertainty.
Conclusion
In the name of Jesus, Amen.