Trouble began when a rush of safety seekers reached the stairwell entrance at the same time. A woman carrying a baby lost her footing on one of the nineteen uneven steps leading down from the street. Her stumble interrupted the oncoming flow, causing a domino of others to tumble on top of her. Within seconds, hundreds of horrified people were thrown together, piling up like laundry in a basket. Matters worsened when the late arrivers thought they were being deliberately blocked from entering (they weren't). So they began to push. The chaos lasted for less than a quarter of an hour. The disentangling of bodies took until midnight. In the end 173 men, women, and children died.

No bombs had been dropped.

Fusillades didn't kill the people. Fear did.1 Fear loves a good stampede. Fear's payday is blind panic, unfounded disquiet, and sleepless nights. Fear's been making a good living lately.

Here's a test. How far do you have to go to hear the reminder "Be afraid"? How near is your next "You are in trouble" memo? A flip of the newspaper page? A turn of the radio dial? A glance at the Internet update on the computer monitor? According to the media the world is one scary place.

And we suspect a campaign to keep it that way. Fear sells. Fear glues watchers to their seats, sells magazines off the racks, and puts money in the pockets of the system. Newscasts have learned to rely on a glossary of trouble-stirring phrases to keep our attention: "Coming up, the frightening truth about sitting in traffic." "How chocolate affects your I.Q." "What you can do to avoid the danger." "What you may not know about the water you drink."

Frank Furedi doc.u.mented an increasing use of fear in the media by counting the appearances of the term at risk in British newspapers. In 1994 the term appeared 2,037 times. By the end of the next year, the total had doubled. It increased by half in 1996. During the year 2000 at risk was printed more than eighteen thousand times.2 Honestly, did world danger increase ninefold in six years? We are peppered with bad news. Global warming, asteroid attack, SARS, genocide, wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, AIDS . . . Does it ever stop? The bad news is taking its toll. We are the most worried culture that has ever lived. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, parents expect that life for the next generation will be worse than it was for them.3 Even though life expectancy has doubled and disease research is at an all-time high, you'd think the bubonic plague was raging in the streets. Reporter Bob Garfield tracked health articles in major publications and discovered that, among other health issues, 59 million Americans have heart disease, 53 million Americans have migraines, 25 million Americans have osteoporosis, 16 million struggle with obesity, 3 million have cancer, 2 million have severe brain disorders.

Reportedly, in total, 543 million Americans consider themselves to be seriously sick, a troubling figure since there are 266 million people in the country. As Garfield noted, "Either as a society we are doomed, or someone is seriously double-dipping."4 There's a stampede of fear out there. Let's not get caught in it. Let's be among those who stay calm. Let's recognize danger but not be overwhelmed. Acknowledge threats but refuse to be defined by them. Let others breathe the polluted air of anxiety, not us. Let's be numbered among those who hear a different voice, G.o.d's. Enough of these shouts of despair, wails of doom. Why pay heed to the doomsdayer on Wall Street or the purveyor of gloom in the newspaper? We will incline our ears elsewhere: upward. We will turn to our Maker, and because we do, we will fear less.

Courage does not panic; it prays. Courage does not bemoan; it believes. Courage does not languish; it listens. It listens to the voice of G.o.d calling through Scripture, "Fear not!" It hears Christ's voice comforting through the hospital corridors, graveyards, and war zones: Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven. (Matt. 9:2) Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid. (Matt. 14:27) When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don't panic. (Matt. 24:6 MSG) Let not your heart be troubled. ( John 14:1) Don't let your hearts be troubled or afraid. ( John 14:27 NCV) Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12:7) Don't be afraid. (Luke 12:7 NIV) We will follow the astounding example of William Fariss, who as a seven-year-old boy watched his house go up in flames. He is the son of Pioneer Bible translators in West Africa, a bright young man with a voracious interest in dinosaurs and animals. His family lived in a tin-roofed house covered by a layer of thatch. One day the wind lifted sparks from a nearby fire, and they exploded the Farisses' thatch roof in flames. The family attempted to save the house but stood no chance in the dry air and hot African sun. As they witnessed the fire reduce their home to cinders and charred brick, William's mother heard him praying. She noted that the words were psalm-like, and when she heard him repeat it a few days later, she wrote down what he said.

Through wind and rain

Through fire and lava

The Lord will never leave you.

Through earthquakes and floods

Through changing sea levels and burning ash

The Lord will never leave you.

If you love Him, He will bless you

and He will give you many things.

Who can stop the Lord?

Who can chase a cheetah across the plains of Africa?

The Lord, He can.

Who can stand on Mount Everest?

Who can face a rhinoceros?

The Lord.

The Lord can give you sheep and goats and cows and ducks and chickens and dogs and cats.

The Lord can give you anything He wants to.

Who can stop the Lord?

Who can face an elephant?

Who is brave enough to face a lion?

The Lord.

Who's as fast as a horse?

Who can catch a blue whale?

Who is brave enough to face a giant squid?

The Lord.

Just as Jesus died on the cross, so the Lord has done so.

The Lord will never leave His people.

The Bible is His word.

The Lord is a good leader.