Quote from Forum Archives on August 10, 2010, 3:10 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional
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There were 1367 new subscribers during 2009!!

08.10.10

Can't Cope With That

My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word. My soul melts
from heaviness; strengthen me according to Your word. - Psalm 119:25; 28.

Unless Your law had been my delight (If your law had not been my delight -
NIV), I would then have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your
precepts, for by them You have given me life. - Psalm 119:92-93.

Steven Slater is the latest to have "lost it" being unable to cope with a
very stressful situation as a JetBlue flight attendant. He reportedly tried
to mediate a dispute between two women passengers prior to the flight
departing Pittsburgh. The two women were arguing over space in the overhead
storage area, and Steven was hit in the head accidentally during that
attempt at a peaceful intervention. One of the women refused to stay seated
as requested and that was when Steven was struck by the luggage. Upon the
plane landing in New York and prior to deplaning, there was reportedly an
additional dispute involving one of the two women and Steven. The woman was
upset that her luggage that she was forced to gate-check would not be
immediately available and verbally attacked Steven. After this Steven said a
few choice words to the woman over the intercom ending with "I've had it."
He then deployed the emergency chute leaving the plane and is now facing
several criminal charges with bail set at $2500. A defense attorney stated
at an arraignment that Slater was under stress because of his mother's lung
cancer. At last count a Facebook page set up in his honor already had 30,857
likes.

Most of us know what it is like to "lose it" although probably not in such a
dramatic and public way as did Steven Slater. With Steven, you can see the
progression of stress. Stress builds up with layer upon additional layer of
emotional pressure coming upon a person. Steven was already under stress
just because he works in stressful job in a stressful environment. In
addition, his mother is seriously ill and this was all piled on top of him
until he reached his breaking point having to handle a verbally abusive, and
rule breaking passenger.

What do you do when you just cannot cope anymore with a situation? My
favorite is to cry out "Lord help me!" However, the best way to handle
stressful situations, and living a stressful life is not to wait until you
are at your breaking point to ask the Lord for help. The Psalmist gives us
some indications in Psalm 119 as to how he could cope with living on the
edge through very difficult times. Psalm 119 is the longest psalm, and it is
a hymn of praise magnifying the Word of God. The Psalmist says that the Law
of God, the Word of God was his delight and if that had not been true "I
would then have perished in my affliction."

If you delight in something what do you do? You want to be around it, you
want to study it, you want to meditate upon it, and you never want to forget
about it because you love it. That is what was going on in the life of the
Psalmist. That is why he was able to stand up under the pressure cooker of a
life that he lived and stay faithful to God.

So, long before you arrive at the point in life that you "lose it", that you
"can't cope with something" make the Word of God your delight. Every day
immerse yourself to the extent that you can in the Words of God. Meditate
upon the Word of God, study it, memorize it, read it, listen to it, and you
will discover that you have the supernatural strength you need to cope with
whatever life brings your way.

Copyright © 2010. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

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