“Take Care; Be Calm Message T Shirts are a big fad in Texas. Recently popular is one that reads: “Keep Calm and Carry On”. Not long after that shirt hit the market, spinoffs flooded stores and catalogs with assorted messages, one for every man, woman, and child in the state! Keep Calm and Rock On, Keep Calm and Dance On, Keep Calm and Play Soccer. Christian Bookstores got in on the trend with Keep Calm and Pray On. Another store chose “Keep Korma and Curry On. One day while looking for the right T shirt for our college student facing finals, I spotted one that said “Freak Out and Run About.” Perfect! This is the way of fads. They burst on the scene with “good idea,” move quickly to “now that’s funny” and end up “down-right ridiculous!”
Little did I know that today’s theme shirt fad had its beginnings in the Bible. Well…at least I came across a verse that sounds like a fad T shirt. It was Isaiah who wrote: “Take Care and Be Calm” So how does it feel, Oh T-shirt-fad-follower, knowing that the idea began with the pen of Isaiah, and has been around longer than you’ve been alive! And, by-the-way, it may stay around for another generation or two. Because we all have something to say, and it’s just easier to sport a message a la T-shirt rather than try to find a soap-box. While we do it for fun, the serious Old Testament prophet sent out the message as a warning. “Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands,” (7:4). Seems to me message is completely relevant today, because “hundreds of “smoldering firebrands” scorch the terrain all around us, and we must keep calm so we can carry on—with or without the shirt!
No amount of angst or anxiety can put out a fire. But calm steady steps, one at a time, keeping in step with the Holy Spirit will get you through the hot spots, around the parched ground, and into green pastures. Take Care! Be calm! And watch fear lose its grip! And, while you are wandering around outlet malls, trades days, and county fairs, if you happen to find a T shirt that reads: Be Calm and Write On, you might just get me one of those. Because I’m facing a deadline on an upcoming book called Unafraid, and frankly, I’m needing a bit more Calm!
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!” 2 Thessalonians 3:16
