President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said in a speech to the American people during one of the darkest days in the country's history —

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

We are living in some dark days in America and the world right now. Where are the bold, forthright, calming and optimistic voices of reason to address the current issues that concern us all? In many ways, their silence has only added to the fear—fear of outsiders, fear of terrorists, fear of each other. It almost seems that fear has replaced reason.

Fear is causing people to act and react in ways in which they might not otherwise if fear where not a factor in their decisions. And, too often the consequence of that fear has proven deadly. Lives are being destroyed and torn apart because of someone else's fear. And this "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified fear" has paralyzed any effort to find a solution.

The only thing that can defeat fear is love. And the only way we can know love in its purest form is to know God, who is love, and his son, Jesus Christ. To truly know this God, is to be at peace with God. It should naturally follow that being at peace with God also means being at peace with our neighbors and the world community.

"But if we say we love God and don’t love each other, we are liars. We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don’t love the people we can see? The commandment that God has given us is: “Love God and love each other!" 1 John 4: 20-21