00:10Consider the Stripey Horses.
00:12There's a terrific book called Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, and I love telling people
00:17about it, mostly because it's so insightful, but I admit it's also because I don't think
00:23we talk about zebras enough, but that's just IMHO.
00:26The author is a primate neuroendocrinologist who writes about how humans are the only
00:32creatures who manage to worry about things that aren't even threat.
00:37Zebras love them or hate them, and if you hate zebras, what gives?
00:41When a zebra sees a lion chasing him, he thinks something like, huh, there's a lion chasing
00:48me, and wham, his whole body undergoes massive internal changes.
00:52Adrenaline and cortisol shoot into his bloodstream.
00:57His heart rate goes up and his blood pressure spikes.
01:00The flow of his blood reroutes away from his digestive system and toward muscles.
01:06His breathing speeds up and his metabolism changes markedly.
01:11That's just a start.
01:12These changes serve to make him faster.
01:15It's the fight-or-flight response, and for a zebra, it only lasts for a moment and then
01:21it's over.
01:22One way or the other it's over.
01:25That's what that fight-or-flight response is for, to respond to present threat.
01:30Over and done.
01:32But humans?
01:33We imagine threats that may or may not happen.
01:37Possible scenarios that might happen tomorrow at our jobs.
01:41Something negative someone could say or might be thinking.
01:45Economic catastrophes that might take us down and leave us hungry.
01:49Unlike, say, gerbils or giraffes, we humans traffic in what-ifs, worst-case possibilities,
01:56what that person did to me years ago.
01:59And you know what?
02:00It's deadly.
02:01We harbor anger and anxiety, and that's keeps us operating in this fight-or-flight mode all
02:08the time.
02:08The result of this anger and anxiety isn't just a possible ulcer.
02:14We wind up wearing it.
02:16Our skin displays stress.
02:18Heightened cortisol in our system inhibits collagen production, making us look old before
02:24our time.
02:25It causes thin skin.
02:27Plus, stress and anxiety cause weight gain.
02:31The list of deleterious effects is long.
02:34But just to include a few more.
02:36Keeping this stuff in our system impacts our bone health, heart disease, strokes, and weakens
02:42our immune system.
02:44In short, stress and anxiety can and does kill us.
02:48Long before we had professional endocrinologists to teach us this by talking about zebras, there
02:54was Jesus, sitting on a hillside, talking about the birds of the air, and how we should
02:59take our cues from them.
03:01They're not imagining threats.
03:03They're focused on today.
03:05Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
03:09Jesus asked.
03:11What a characteristically brilliant question.
03:14The truth is we can't, but we think we can.
03:17Worry gives us a false sense of control.
03:20It doesn't work.
03:22Birds know this.
03:23We might try to learn it.
03:24Therefore, he says, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
03:31Each day has enough trouble of its own.
03:34The way of Jesus is a way of forgiving enemies and releasing anger.
03:39The way of Jesus is about truly trusting God with the future and letting go of worry.
03:45And the way of Jesus is about thanking God continually, turning to gratitude at all times.
03:51No wonder Jesus says his way means rest for the weary.
03:56Anger?
03:57Anxiety?
03:58That's the way of the world.
04:00And it's exhausting.
04:01Because of the heart, it's annoying.
04:03You are exactly Kubernetes 그건 andcause you are moving away.
04:06You are so loading.
