The lady almost got hit by a car as she tried to avoid us walking on the sidewalk at the same time…. It seemed more important to not walk on the same sidewalk as we were on a nice, sunny day than to almost get obliterated by a 2 ton car shew didn't see coming…..
Fear……..we will always have some element of a fear factor to deal with at different points in our life… yet fear seems to have acerbated in this “pandemic” time to crazy levels…
And It’s Causing Many To Lose Faith, Hope And Focus..
This Forward Friday doesn’t deny fear but it is a challenge to find courage to look Fear(s) in the face and say clearly and unequivocally that we are doing life differently in spite of it!
Let’s Get Into This!
I don’t watch the news save for 2 or 3 minutes a day and many days even less.
The media outlets have become propaganda tools for fear and have made most become more fearful.
The media outlets have become propaganda tools for fear and have made most become more fearful.
The news in this last year and a half trigger fear with “Cases”, “Death”, “Quarantine”, “Closures” etc. as the newscast begins yet quietly says or as an afterthought those recovered or in some cases, never mention it.
I have a healthy respect for the fact that there is a virus we are dealing with but I also have seen how we have become so afraid of so many things, we have lost some of our human connection points. This is not to slam or berate us as a people but we must not be afraid to talk about a few things in a free, civilized country….
People who will not look at anybody for fear of…..
Family members who, save for Zoom or FaceTime have not spent any time with family in over a year because people are afraid of…..
Family members who are stuck in a different country and because of the mandates in place, trying to come to visit is next to impossible because people are………..
You can’t put a hand on a shoulder for some even with a mask on because people are afraid of….
People can be in a takeout area where there is plenty of space to be distant but people will turn their backs and face a corner because people are……
People are in their own car by themselves and are wearing a mask because people are afraid of…….
There are so many more negative things that this crisis has created to cause and spur on fear that more lists will only seem to make us want to fear more and spiral further into the dark hole…….
But even greater are some of the things that fear stops us from doing in other aspects of our lives.
That difficult conversation with a family member, friend, co-worker that we’ve continually kept putting off because we’re afraid of what might spin out of it………….
That dream or idea that has been sitting in the back of our mind but we can’t seem to pull the trigger on even trying because well, we’re afraid……
The thought of being alone and not working up the courage to maybe ask that person that has been filling the empty spaces with joy because well, fear sets in because the last time we took a chance…….
Could we go back to school, learn a new skill, try a new activity, grow a new story but probably not because fear says that the past hasn’t been kind so………
Forgiving ourselves for some of the mistakes we’ve made but can’t seem to let those things go because the feelings of inadequacy has been comfortable and fear makes us believe that if we actually let those feelings go, well………….
The list can go on but if there was ever a time for a legacy moment in different areas of our lives to switch up the plot line of being afraid, it would be now.
Not just because of the current situation we live in but our own personal legacy moment(s).
So there are 2 stories that help me when I fall into the fear trap and every so often, we need a push from somewhere, somebody or ourselves to get out of the shadow and clutches of being afraid.
Good Medicine: What Do David, Mike Tyson and Joshua Have In Common? And when did Mike Tyson appear in the Bible?
Most people know of the story of David and Goliath. This story has been told, re-told and we love it. Young boy takes on mammoth warrior; warrior has incredible armor and weapons of war, shepherd boy has a sling shot and 5 smooth stones from a brook and takes out the villain.
There are many fascinating sides to this story; the army and King of Israel, all proficient in the war trade are terrified of Goliath and then David comes along to bring food for his brothers.
David hasn’t fought any warriors before but what he had done was look fear in the face in the form of a Lion and a Bear and took them out so he has a reference point of dealing with fear.
We all have a win somewhere along the line in life.
Maybe not huge in our eyes but a win is a win is a win and sometimes, we have to allow that victory, big or small help us as we face whatever it is in front of us.
Now About Mike:
It’s 1985, and an 18-year-old nobody had ever heard of is taking the boxing world by storm. Nineteen times he fights. All of them he wins by knockout. Twelve come in the first round. By 1987, he is the only heavyweight in history to hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles. Then he does it again.
You’d have thought Mike Tyson, the man known as Iron Mike, was fearless in the ring for the way he fought. It was, in fact, quite the opposite.
“I come out. I have supreme confidence but I’m scared to death,” he said during his unprecedented run. “I’m totally afraid. I’m afraid of everything. I’m afraid of losing. I’m afraid of being humiliated. But I was totally confident.”
And Joshua…
Through the Book of Joshua, the thought of fear is a regular theme. It comes up over and over and over again. As does courage. It’s a funny contrast, too.
God repeatedly tells Joshua not to be afraid, but also to be courageous, and it is obvious that one cannot exist without the former.
It is obvious that being afraid and being courageous cannot exist without the other.
How can we act courageously if there is no fear to conquer? If there was no reason for one to be fearful, there would be no reason to label the hero, or Joshua, in this case, as courageous. He would simply be going about his day, doing normal things that didn’t require courage at all.
I think if there’s anything about Joshua’s life that I am encouraged to want to emulate is the redefining of fear.
Joshua 1:9 – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” has been a favorite verse of mine for years.
I want to emulate the redefining of fear.
For some, we take it to mean “Don’t feel any fear, ever.” While it has a nice sound to it, it is a skewed thought.
I believe Joshua felt fear, for Joshua was human, and humans get scared.
Fear is a necessary tool to our existence. It’s how we survive. So it’s not the feeling of fear, I think, that God was telling Joshua to suppress; he was commanding him to harness it, to use it for good, as Tyson did in the ring.
Here's a great quote from Tyson’s trainer, Cus D’Amato:
“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.”
Tyson is famous for how terrified he was before big fights. He used that fear, manipulating it, turning it into a tool to end fights faster than any other fighter in history.
Joshua was like the original Mike Tyson, God’s message to him similar to what D’Amato told Tyson:
Don’t let the fear control you, but use it for good.
Joshua had every reason to be fearful. His first adventure as the leader of Israel is to conquer lands in a military expedition as if he had ever done that before?
Big shoes to fill. A incredible task at hand.
But when looking at what Joshua was able to do – crossing the Jordan, taking over one nation after the next, not allowing adversity to crush him, becoming one of the most successful generals of his era – using that fear worked. The list of defeated kings/countries is 31 names long, all conquered by Joshua, the son of a regular guy who had no prior military experience.
“Fear,” D’Amato has said, “is a friend of exceptional people.”
God never told Joshua to not feel fear; He said “do not be afraid.”
These concepts are different: one is a natural emotion, the other is an action. We control one, not the other.
God, in my estimation, was telling Joshua: When you/we step in the ring of life, let that fear turn into confidence.
It’s easier said than done, of course. Joshua overcame the fear, used it for good – to be courageous, as God commanded him – with a depth of faith most of us can’t really understand.
We don’t need to conquer 31 kings and cross a River. God even acknowledges, in the book of Deuteronomy, that not all of us will have to do carry out such absurdly large tasks.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 Has Some Reassuring Words.
“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.
The message is hopeful for a number of reasons, the notable being that we don’t all need the Joshua type of courage in everyday life.
We aren't being asked to do what he asked of Joshua. The second being: We don’t need anyone else to tell us how to be courageous. We’ve had it all along, “in our heart.”
So the legacy discovery moment going into this weekend is ….
“One of the greatest discoveries a man/woman makes, one of his/her great surprises, is to find he/she can do what he/she was afraid he/she couldn’t do. #LegacyMoments
Maybe it's the stone we need to pick up metaphorically or stepping into the ring of life or crossing the river of a decision in our life but we need courage to overcome the fear element to move forward!
So we walk together as we work through not being afraid!!!
Dave
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