God Is Bigger Than The Bogeyman

  Fear can be an overwhelming thing.  Especially at 3 o'clock in the morning when you can't sleep, and it's dark and lonely, and fear sneaks up on you and grabs you in its tentacles.  I don't know what it is about that time, but things always seem the worst at 3 o'clock in the morning.  Especially fear.
  One of the best lessons I learned about handling fear came from Veggie Tales.  For those who are unfamiliar with VT, it's a collection of animated videos aimed at teaching kids (and adults too!) about the Bible and starring a cast of vegetables.  Some of the stories are veggie versions of Bible stories (Dave and the Giant Pickle, Josh and the Big Wall), some are imaginative re-tellings of classic stories (Sweetpea Beauty, Robin Good and His No-So-Merry Men) and some are more abstract lessons in Christian values (Madame Blueberry, which is about thankfulness, King George and the Ducky, which is about not being selfish).  Each movie teaches something using relatable stories and some really fun songs.  Those who are fans of the series also know about the Silly Songs With Larry (the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song) but that's a story for another day.
  Back to the lesson about fear.  In Tales From The Crisper, Junior Asparagus gets scared after staying up and watching a scary Frankencelery movie.  With the help of Bob the tomato, Junior learns that there's no reason to be scared because God is bigger than any monster (and that Frankencelery is really just a guy named Phil from Cleveland).  The "theme song" of the movie is called "God is Bigger Than The Boogie Man":
  God is bigger than the boogie man!
  He's bigger than Godzilla or the monsters on TV.
  Yes, God is bigger than the boogie man,
  And He's watching out for you and me!
  (This song is available for download on iTunes.)
  The lesson that Junior learned is just as important for us to remember.  There's no reason to be afraid of the "monsters" in our lives when we have God on our side.  Even the scariest Frankencelery is no match for our God! And when daylight comes, we might even realize that what kept us awake all night is really not that frightening at all...just a guy named Phil from Cleveland.
  So the next time you're awake and scared at 3 o'clock in the morning because of a monster, try this: sing this song a few times and see if that doesn't just chase that nasty ol' monster away!

  Until next time,
  J.