Stress… killing me softly

America lives on anti-depressants, the streets are littered with junkies, the high rises are packed with addicts. Movie theaters crowded with zombies, living-rooms and basements scattered with twitching bodies plugged into wireless xbox headsets, the malls are teeming with card swiping kleptomaniacs. Everyone trying to get their fix… is reality so bad that we must at every chance attempt to escape it?

About a year ago I experienced a panic attack and I have to say… stress definitely does not fight fair. I quickly got to a doctor thinking I had heart problems… after 5 weeks of tests.. I found out I was having panic attacks. I quickly evaluated the situation and decided to make some hard choices.

#1 get medicated
#2 find out what was causing the stress

One thing I have learned to do is not lie to myself because

1. taking an honest look at your life has its benefits…
2. evaluating yourself is cheaper than a psychiatrist
3. I already know what the answers are I just need to admit them!

So I took an honest evaluation.. and found out some interesting things about myself…

• I am more stressed when I don’t get enough sleep
• I am more stressed when I don’t get everything done that I should have
• I am more stressed when I worry about money
• I am more stressed when I gripe at my wife
• I am more stressed when I fuss at my kids
• When I am stressed I like to “relax” – watch TV, play video games, surf the internet, and go shopping.
• When I “relax” I am always fussing at my kids for interrupting me
• When I “relax” I gripe at my wife for asking me to help her
• When I “relax” I tend to spend money
• When I “relax” I rarely take care of my responsibilities.
• When I “relax” I often find myself staying up late and losing sleep.

this leads me to a formula that specifically describes why I have stress in my life..

S = N x T

Stress = (Number of Idols) x (Time spent satisfying my idols)

you may disagree with my formula… and you are welcome to! but hear me out.

Idolatry is the simple act of placing something at a higher priority than God. While we may often croon about how God is the most important thing in our life our actions betray us… He often is so far down on the list that it is hard to find him amongst all the other “important” things.

so the simple rule is… if you expend yourself more on something than you do on God… That, my friend …. is an idol.

If you look at Idolatry it has always been pretty stressful! look at the prophets of Baal when they had a showdown with Elijah… they danced around like idiots and and cut themselves… hoping that somehow the empty skies would rain fire on their altar. This went on for so long Elijah started making fun of them!…

Then he saunters over to God’s altar and says… ‘hey can you light this?’ (I know it is highly paraphrased) and God brought down a column of fire so hot that it evaporated all the water and turned everything else to ashes!

So I guess I need to spend less time with my Idols so I am not so stressed!