There are many famous quotes about fear. You’ve likely heard some of them…
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself… Franklin D. Roosevelt.
All right, I’ll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I’ll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I’m going in there. There’s only one thing I want you fellows to do… Cowardly Lion
What’s that?… Tinman & Scarecrow
Talk me out of it… Cowardly Lion
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear... James Neil Hollingworth.
And my personal favorite – Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear... Mark Twain.
Most of you know that a little more than a year ago I felt that God was calling me to start a church. No big deal, right? I mean, isn’t that what pastor-people do? There are a few other things to consider in that interrogative equation:
- for my entire 15-year career (until 1 month ago) I have been a salaried employee.
- we moved to Atlanta without knowing (in the deep relational sense of the word) a single person.
- I am a hyper-positive person… to a fault. At times I even (by instinct) ignore negative realities.
So now I am finally facing the reality that this church thing that God has most certainly called us to will require lots of money that I don’t have. Putting aside the fact that I am primarily a positive person (see #3 in the list above), there have also been moments of fear as I consider my family obligations.
This morning in my quiet time with God I read from John 14 and Jesus said these words to His followers, When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. When I remember this truth… I’m not afraid anymore.
re:THINK 