SENTINEL WATCH February 3, 2003 Issue

Keeping our cool

By Richard A. Nenneman

THERE seem to be some days when it's just too much to cope with the news. Where are the secret cells of Al Qaeda hiding? Is an attack on Iraq going to occur? And what about North Korea's intentions? In the US, some ask if the economy is going to grow at all this year. What is the latest in the ongoing violence between Israelis and Palestinians? And so on ....

And maybe, when we're listening to the morning news with its list of alarming situations, we also have our private list personal challenges. How can we keep calm and levelheaded?

I recall a time when I had made a major job change that took my young family and me to another part of the country. We weren't familiar with it, and we had uprooted ourselves from friends and family. When I began to look back at what I had done, I got myself into a state of considerable agitation. I called a spiritual practitioner whom I knew well and unloaded my feelings of unease on him. His only advice was to please go and study the 23rd Psalm.