Have been reading in Mark over the past few days - in particular the last part of chapter 4 and chapter 5. There are three snap shots of Jesus showing up: calming a storm, healing a demon possessed man and raising a dead girl. As I was reading them, a theme appeared - fear. In each of these snap shots, there was a fear response of those around Jesus. In the next series of posts, I want to look at each of these snap shots and explore fear a little bit.

Fear is a powerful emotional motivator. There are several responses - physical and emotional - to fear. My initial response to fear is physical: my stomach knots up, I feel energy drain from me, and, depending on the intensity of the emotion, I begin to feel a bit nauseous. If my emotional tank is a little low, I emotionally run away; trying to avoid the fear, hoping whatever created the situation will just go away (which it never does).

Fear can also make us do some irrational things (like running away from the problem and hoping they will go away). As we look at these snap shots of Jesus ministry, we will see some of responses that, by observation, seem to be irrational. My hope is as we explore these snap shots, we will learn now not to respond to Jesus out of fear, but out of awe and worship.