Dealing with stress

In 1999, 36 year old Akira Hareuya filed bankruptcy for his electrical
contracting business. He immediately bought a pair of boxing gloves and went
out on to the streets of Tokyo with a plan. He knew that there were lots of
very stressed people on the streets of Tokyo so for $9 a minute he would
allow people to punch him. To further deal with their stress they could yell
at him as they punched him. The report said he made about $200 per day doing
this.

Have you ever had to deal with stress? It's a reality of life isn't it,
everyone has some kind of stress about something. How about you, how do you
deal with your stress? Some folks seem to do just fine; they let the stress
that enters their lives just roll over them, not seeming to affect them at
all. But, then there is the rest of us who don't cope quite as well
sometimes. Actually, I've found that how I deal with stress varies quite a
bit and is sometimes even coupled with my physical condition. If I am not
feeling well, then things seem to bother me that at other times would be no
problem at all.

I think the same principle can be applied to us on a spiritual level also.
If we are strong spiritually then we are not nearly as stressed as when we
struggle spiritually. Have you ever been to a meeting of your church family
or maybe a special meeting where lots of folks attended where you were
especially uplifted? Maybe you came away feeling that you could handle
almost anything that the world threw at you; depression wasn't an issue,
because you were so high on spiritual adrenalin.

Now we know that God's word encourages us to meet with other Christians and
that we are to encourage each other at all times. Why is it then, that when
we are stressed, depressed and discouraged, that we stay away from church
meetings and other Christians? In my experience it is because others seem so
perfect, so godly; so spiritual, that it makes us feel even worse about
ourselves. Now if that is true, then we have a real problem with our
perceptions of others, because I have yet to meet anyone who is not
struggling with something; we just are not aware of it. Paul writes in
Romans 3:23, "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious
standard."

What about getting rid of stress, how do we do it? Well, personally I'm
still working on that, but I have a direction to go in my life. Paul writes
in Philippians 4:6-7, "Don't worry about anything. Instead, tell God about
everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to him. Then God's peace will watch
over your hearts and your minds because you belong to Christ Jesus." (NIrV)
I'm working on bringing more of God into my life all of the time through
study, prayer and association with others of like mind. What about you, do
you have a plan?

Russ Lawson