Living in Orlando has many benefits. One of the most well-known is its proximity to basically every major brand of theme park. They remain a key attraction to visitors without completely losing the interest of the local crowd. Around this time every year, the park trots out their Halloween theme, with Universal Studios, in particular, setting up for Halloween Horror Nights.
For those who aren’t familiar, Universal sets up several different haunted houses and scare zones with specific themes like Stranger Things, Halloween (the movie), Saw, etc. After making it through the frequently hour-plus long lines, you’re guided along a wandering path through zombies, aliens, serial killers, and the like. The houses are generally aimed at producing as many jump-scare moments as possible, with crevices in every corner for actors to hide in, thick curtains dividing sections to block the guests ahead from view, and enough space between the scare actors to keep guests on their toes and never quite sure when the next person is going to jump out. But, for legal reasons I’m sure, one other key element is that they can never touch you.
As we made our annual trek down to Universal and through the houses, I started to realize something. While almost anyone will flinch by natural reflex when a person jumps out and screams, the lack of danger tends to take a bit of the bite out of the scare factor. Natural reflexes still make me flinch, but I generally didn’t feel actual fear. And it was in that moment that I recalled Hebrews 13:6: “So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me (ESV)?”
As Christians, we do not have to walk in fear. Ultimately, whatever comes across our path, God is greater. His hold on us is sufficient to carry us through life’s circumstances.
Life is not guaranteed to be easy. And much like my flinches, we are not stoics that are devoid of emotional reaction. But in the same way that the actors in the houses are not allowed to make physical contact, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39-40, ESV).”
Walking through the dark corridors of the haunted house, I was reminded of the sheep led through the valley of the shadow of death. With God as our shepherd, we fear no evil. His rod and staff, our divine protection, comfort us.
Death has lost its sting. The haunted house has lost its hauntedness.
In a time of year so focused on fear and scaring, let us remember that “perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18, ESV).”