Wisdom Begins with a Word by Carol Castillo (Editor's Note: The following in an article that was run in The Newsvine in 2012. We decided to run it again as the holidays can be a challenging time for many people. Get a cup of coffee, sit yourself down, and take a deep breath. Everything is going to be all right. God's got your situation. He's not going to be caught unaware. You'll get through this. Let this article be an encouragement to you. And as Sister Castillo told her family, "Don't worry. We'll make it with God's help." And you know, with God's help them did, and you will, too.)
Valley, away from most major, active fault lines, and I had only felt two slight tremors.
Earthquake!
On October 17, 1989, I was at home relaxing on the bed after work; my husband was cleaning up from his job at a rock quarry. Our daughter was doing homework, and our little boy played at her feet. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 65 miles to the west, thousands were gathering at Candlestick Park for the World Series between the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants. Many of my co-workers were there. The time was 5:04 p.m. I heard a noise like a roaring freight train, then Breaking the felt a sharp jolt and the waterbed nearly pitched Habit me to the floor. “Earthquake!” I shouted. Both children bolted into the bedroom to find me, and my My mother had an expression for it. “Majoring in husband joined us. Together we huddled under an the minors,” she said. Or, “Making mountains out interior doorway. The floor shifted and swayed omof molehills.” Either way, she was right. My worry inously under our feet. I met my husband’s eyes. habit was more than a habit; it was a career. I fret- “It’s a bad one,” he said. ted that the twinge of pain in my chest signaled When the rolling stopped, I immediately turned heart trouble. When it rained I worried about flood- on the radio. “The Bay Bridge has collapsed!” ing. If the car made strange noises, I got nervous. yelled an excited announcer. Meanwhile a live My busy life offered multiple opportunities to push feed from Candlestick Park beamed pandemonithe panic button. And if things went well, I worried um across the nation as players and fans raced about that, too. across the field in search of safety. Like the rest of As a Christian I knew what the Bible had to the country I watched and listened in horror as the say about worry. “Be anxious for nothing.” I also tragedy unfolded. knew God had it all under control. I just couldn’t While my family and I huddled under the doorshake the conviction that He needed my help. And way, another family 80 miles west in the Santa Cruz no sermon or Bible verse could change my mind. Mountains had done the same. When it was over, It took a major earthquake to shake me up, literal- the man of the house stepped out his front door to ly, and break the worry habit that beset me for so find his yard split like a crushed melon. Meanwhile long. a mother in San Francisco carrying her baby to the Living in California, I knew the threat of earth- changing table never made it. The top floors in the quake always lurked beneath the surface. Surpris- apartment collapsed, sending mother and son in a ingly, I didn’t worry about. We lived in the Central
WORRY
30 WINTER NEWSVINE 2024 •
