The Power of Stress

Name a six letter word that seems to encompass every pain, fear, and challenge of life. No, it’s not George, but that would be a good guess. Let’s try s-t-r-e-s-s.

From the common cold to cancer, stress appears to be that proverbial causal straw that breaks the camel’s back! However, not everyone experiences stress the same way. Some people actually thrive during stressful circumstances while others in the same scenario barely survive.

The body’s self-regulating system can be termed homeostasis, and every moment every cell strives towards equilibrium (or homeostasis) while maintaining disequilibrium. This movement enables the body to maintain balance, no matter the environment. When everything remains the same - equilibrium between the inside and the outside of a cell - there is no potential for movement. Because movement is the essence of life, tension is a necessary ingredient for cells, people, nature, to exist. Life is in a constant flux, and living in the Now, the balance point is always changing. Without a certain level of stress...

The lust for gods

Something dreadful seems to have happened to God between the time of Abraham and the time of Moses. The difference in time cannot have been more than about five hundred years at most – a time frame we have been copiously assured would be only as a “blink” in the eyes of God.

The God of Abraham was undoubtedly a powerful God who dealt in a very forthright manner with those he considered to be corrupt, as witness the utter destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 and 19. But he also was mild and approachable, and at times even showed himself in human form, such as when he accepted Abraham’s invitation to visit his tent and have dinner. At this visit God gave paternal and benevolent family advice to the patriarchs and promised Abraham that he’d have a son at the age of 99 years.

Compare this to a few hundred years later when Moses met a very different God in the Burning Bush at Horeb...