Friday the 13th is not a cursed day.

There is no monster under your bed.
There is no goblin in your closet.
There is no troll under the bridge.

And despite what I sometimes say to scare my kids (who take way too long to get their things so we can leave the church building and get to bed on Wednesday nights), there is no demon named Stan who lives in the attic of the church building and steals the cookies we have left over from the last potluck.

That’s me. I eat the cookies. I’m Stan.

I regret nothing.

I read once about a dad who kept having trouble with his kids get out of bed at night. He tried everything to get them to stay in bed, but they kept sneaking out and sneaking into his bed. Finally he tried his trump card: After kissing them goodnight and turning off the light, he told them “okay, see you in the mor–” and then froze, staring at the closet. When they asked him “what’s wrong?” he replied “oh nothing…just thought I heard something moving in your closet. Good night!”

They never got out of bed again.

The fear of things we can’t see is often the worst kind of fear. That particular boogieman can be as big or as small as our imagination makes him. And usually our imaginations can run wild, making our boogiemen grow into giants. But in the end, they don’t exist. They can’t hurt us.

On the other hand, Satan–the Devil himself–is real, and he CAN hurt us. He can destroy both body and soul in Hell (Matthew 10:28). Fortunately, there’s no need to fear the Devil either. Through the Grace of Christ, even the greatest boogieman ever is rendered powerless and feeble.

Trust in Christ, and be not afraid of any monster, whether in your head or in the world.