Fearless

    "Fear never wrote a symphony or poem, negotiated a peace treaty, or cured a disease. Fear never pulled a family out of poverty or a country out of bigotry. Fear never saved a marriage or a business. Courage did that. Faith did that. People who refused to consult or cower to their timidities did that. But fear itself? Fear herds us into a prison and slams the doors.
     Wouldn't it be great to walk out?"  A excerpt from Max Lucado's book Fearless

     Motivation often comes from fear or love. Why is it that  fear drives us more than love? How many times do we catch ourselves  repeat mistakes that come from our fears. Have any of the following crossed your mind:
         The fear of not having enough...       money, love, time
         The fear of letting go...                    of the past, what could have been
         The fear of opening our hearts         up to people, to ourselves, to God
         The fear of failure                            our children, job, or relationships

Under pressure we can be fearless or full or fear.
     When I was 19 I took a short trip to Utah. On the home it was pouring rain. While driving down a ramp connecting to another freeway I hydroplaned  and went off the road. Luckily I wasn't going too fast but it was so muddy my car just continued to slide even after stopping. I was stuck in the mud. Here I was in a place I wasn't familiar with without any money but a couple of bucks in my pocket. Sitting in the car I thought what am I going to do?I gotta do something. So quickly  jumping out of my car I waved down the first car I saw. A nice family gave me a lift the the nearest gas station. I ran into the station and just blurted out,"Does anyone have a tow strap?"
    Now I know it sounds half crazy and probably a little reckless but it made sense to me at the time. The women at the register pointed to a truck out in the parking lot  "He looks like a guy who would have one." So I ran outside and knocked on this guys window. 
  " Do you have a tow strap? And if you do are you willing to tow me out, I'm a few miles away?"
  " Yes and yes, hop in."
This fine looking cowboy seemed nice enough and  to help me, a complete stranger. My heart felt he was good. Though I never would suggest  going just on the gut! And about ten minutes later I was back on my way again.
    I was fearless whether or not it was the best situation to my problem.  I took action. Metaphorically speaking  we have to find a way out of the mud. We cannot stew and come up with excuses to stand still. To get  results we have to flag down that person or situation and face our challenge. It will be uncomfortable and daunting at times but little by little our courage deepens. Don't just face your fears dive into them!

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"Fear may fill our world, but it doesn't have to fill our hearts. It will always knock on the door, Just don't invite it in for dinner, and for heaven's sake don't offer it a bed for the night. Let's embolden our hearts with a select number of Jesus' "do not fear" statements. The promise of Christ and the contention of this book are simple: we can fearless tomorrow than we do today,"  Max Lucado(Fearless)



"And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid." Matthew 17:7