Key Bible Verse: The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade (Psalm 121:5). Bonus Reading: Psalm 121:1-8

One summer we visited Yolanda's parents in Desert Hot Springs, California, where temperatures hit 119 degrees. As I began a late-morning run down the street, the dry heat felt invigorating. But after more than two miles of virtually effortless gliding, I decided to turn around and head for the house.

Desert Hot Springs is perched on a 15-degree incline, and my in-laws' house is near the top. Facing more than two uphill miles in triple-digit heat under a cloudless sky, I ran four blocks, walked one; ran two blocks, walked one; ran 30 feet, walked the rest. By the time I lurched through the front door, I was seeing spots.

An hour after hydrating and a cooling shower, I still felt weak. Yolanda and I left for a drive to Palm Springs, but my anxiety heightened as I drove. Everything seemed dark. I'd never passed out before; was I about to? Was I having a heart attack? An aneurysm? Heat stroke? Glaucoma? For miles I bravely kept my fears to myself. But after ten minutes of agony, it was too much. I tried to be delicate in notifying Yolanda of my imminent death. "Everything's going black!" I whimpered. "I don't know what's happening!"

She took it well. "Oh, yeah," she said, "it's the eclipse."

—Chris Blake in Searching for a God to Love

My Response: A major worry of mine that proved to be baseless was …

Thought to Apply: Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.—SWEDISH PROVERB

Adapted from Searching for a God to Love (Word, 2000) by permission.

Chorus for the Week

You are my hiding place.
You always fill my heart with songs
of deliverance, whenever I am afraid.
I will trust in you, I will trust in you.
Let the weak say I am strong in the strength of the Lord.
—Michael Ledner (©1981, CCCM Music, administered by Maranatha! Music)

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