Last night I was relaxing in my living room and I heard a racket out in the chicken house. The hens were squawking so loud that I got up and found my son and told him, get your gun, I think there’s a coyote after the chickens!

I had been out walking the dogs a little earlier and heard coyotes howling not too far away so that was my first thought, but I knew it could also be a snake or bobcat or other wild animal trying to get a chicken dinner.

Grabbing a flashlight, I hurried out to the barn, still hearing the loud noises coming from inside. I shined the light in the outer chicken yard and there were a few hens standing out there that seemed fine.

As my son joined me I said, well, maybe it’s nothing, because it seemed like as they heard me coming they had quieted down. So I opened the door to see what was going on inside and all I saw was silent chickens and a rooster staring at me as if I was intruding on something.

I guess that foxy rooster was having a little party! He’s quite the ladies’ man, especially since he is the only rooster in a full hen house. His shenanigans with his harem are pretty entertaining to watch.

So, thankfully, there was no fox or other beast trying to kill our egg-making machines, but from the noise , you would have thought we’d find a trail of bloody feathers leading out to the woods, and maybe even catch the murderer with a chicken in his mouth.

That reminded me of how the media loves to make a lot of racket to create the impression that there is danger, murder, and chaos everywhere waiting to kill us. The fact is that we live in the safest world that has ever existed. Not only do we have laws, police and governments, but we also have medicine, hospitals, and modern medical technology.

But FEAR sells and CHAOS controls and people REACT to dramatic headlines like the sound of squawking hens and crowing roosters, they run to see what is going on. The media keeps people so afraid and busy trying to make sense of the constant flow of information that they don’t notice the more important changes and events happening in our world, like loss of personal freedom and possible devaluation of the currency.

While it is important to pay attention to certain news, the trick is learning what to tune out. We have to be careful not to spread rumors and social media drama that increase the level of unnecessary fear in a mostly safe world.

One example is how the media loves to use the term ‘mass shooting’ even before they have actual information. Yesterday there was a murder in Austin. A man killed three people , his wife, daughter and her boyfriend, because he was mad that his wife had filed child sexual assault charges against him and had a restraining order against him.

But the media immediately sent out emails to anyone on their email list and I got one saying it was a mass shooting. Only by clicking, reading, and then following up by going to social media to the police department’s own social media, did I get the true story.

A horrible and tragic killing in which the details are still being revealed, but not a ‘mass shooting’. This term is purposely used to create fear and make us think that we are in constant danger of randomly being shot down by crazy people with guns. Don’t believe the squawking. Keep loving, keep living, and spread peace and faith in Jesus wherever you go. And pay attention to what you don’t hear on the mainstream news.