---
id: ff20_first_crisis_heads_in_sand
title: "FLYINGFREE - First Crisis: Heads in the Sand"
category: Biblical Life Counsel
predicted_narrative_arc: denial-to-grasp-reality
sentiment: Convictional
emotions:
- Sober
- Instructive
- Steady
keypoints:
- First-time problems often trigger ignore and hide
- People pretend someone else will repair the dilemma
- Hard to grasp ramifications of the unexperienced
- Ignoring as if it did not happen is a defensive mechanism
- Defense does not solve; the problem remains untreated
summary: >
  Dean names first-crisis denial: heads in the sand, pretend someone else will fix it — a defense that never solves the problem.
tags:
- flying-free
- chapter-20
- denial
- first-crisis
- heads-in-sand
- action
- faith
- dean-rush
- book-excerpt
sycophancy: 0
truth_score: 9
entropy: 2
sample: false
consent: owner_approved
agent: flyingfree
created: '2010-01-01'
updated: '2026-09-09T00:00:00Z'
vault_stage: 07_CODEX
headwaters: FLYINGFREE
prefix: FLYINGFREE
enrich_status: ok
enrich_blockers: []
enrich_method: manual
pipeline_filename: FLYINGFREE_20_first-crisis-heads-in-sand.md
source_kind: book_excerpt
proposed_topic: FlyingFree
lane: FlyingFree
voice: desk
active_voice: desk
voices:
- desk
routing_source: carbon
corpus_topic: FlyingFree
content_status: active
date: '2010-01-01'
share_url: https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md
source_url: https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md
site_category: Flying Free
book_title: Flying Free
book_chapter: 20
book_chapter_title: A Moment to Act – Use Faith
source_file: flyingfree/flying-free-20-a-moment-to-act.md
description: >
  Chapter 20 — first-time problems; ignore and pretend do not solve.
---

# First Crisis: Heads in the Sand

**Author:** Dean Rush  
**Book:** *Flying Free* · **Chapter 20:** A Moment to Act – Use Faith  
**Full book:** [deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md](https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md)

## Context for the Reader

Chapter 20 insists on a moment to act. Before action comes the common first move Dean rejects: pretend the crisis is not yours.

This lesson is the heads-in-the-sand beat — defensive ignore is not recovery.

> Voice note: Everything under **Dean's excerpt** is Dean's original prose (lightly cleaned only). Sections marked **Biblical foundations**, **Scholar sidebar**, **Takeaways**, and **First-time learner** are enrichment for Asker / first readers — not Dean speaking.

---

## Biblical foundations (preface)

Denial feels protective and solves nothing. Scripture calls for truth in the inward being and light that exposes what darkness hides.

| Dean's claim | Scriptural undercarriage |
| --- | --- |
| First-time problems invite ignore | Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest (Luke 8:17) |
| Pretend someone else will repair it | Each will have to bear his own load (Galatians 6:5); confess and pray (James 5:16) |
| Hard to grasp unexperienced ramifications | Get wisdom; get insight (Proverbs 4:7) |
| Defensive mechanism does not solve | Walking in darkness while claiming light (1 John 1:6–8) |
| Name what happened | Speak the truth with your neighbor (Ephesians 4:25) |

---

## Dean's excerpt

### Heads in the sand

When people experience a problem for the first time, they often try to ignore the situation and hide their heads in the sand. They may pretend someone else is going to repair the dilemma. If you have not experienced something it is difficult to fully understand the ramifications of the event so we may try to ignore the consequence. The problem is ignored as if it really didn’t happen. Maybe that is a defensive mechanism, but it does not serve to solve the problem.

> **Scholar sidebar — Defense is not delivery**  
> Dean grants the psychology (“maybe defensive”) and still refuses the strategy. 1 John 1:6–8 and Ephesians 4:25 keep truth-telling central. Galatians 6:5 does not cancel mutual help; it blocks the fantasy that ownership never lands on you.

---

## Takeaways

1. **First-time ignore.** New problems often trigger hide-and-deny.
2. **Someone else will fix it.** Pretend shifts ownership off the self.
3. **Unknown ramifications.** Unlived events are hard to grasp fully.
4. **As if it didn’t happen.** Ignore treats real consequence as non-event.
5. **Defense ≠ solution.** Mechanism may soothe; it does not repair.

---

## First-time learner

### What is Dean saying in one sentence?
First-time crises often produce heads-in-the-sand denial and the hope that someone else will repair what we pretend did not happen — and that never solves the problem.

### Is he mocking fear?
No — he names a defensive mechanism and still requires a path that solves.

### Key verses to read with this lesson
- **1 John 1:6–8** — Truth vs darkness.
- **Ephesians 4:25** — Speak truth.
- **Luke 8:17** — Hidden things come to light.
- **Galatians 6:5** — Own your load.
- **Proverbs 4:7** — Get wisdom and insight.

### A simple practice
Write one sentence you have been avoiding about a live problem. Read it aloud to a trusted person or in prayer. Do not solve yet — only name.

### How this feeds Ask Dean
Seed material for: *What does Dean say people do with first-time problems? Why is ignore not a solution?*