Fear doesn’t ever go away. It must be overcome.

It’s a bitter irony. Fear is a compadre of growth. Sure, we all hear talk about growth like it’s something we want. We nod our heads in agreement that growth takes courage and we treat it like a hot commodity. Research is painstakingly done in order to understand the elements of growth. After all, the experts say, “If we aren’t growing we’re dying.” None of us wants that! So, we take immediate steps to quick fix what’s wrong. But, rarely, does anyone really make transformational changes until we’ve accepted the challenging truth that our deepest fear resides within the growth we are all so enamored with and that is why we aren’t growing. Secretly, we are all afraid.

We have to face that fear do something or be derailed by it.

Kick and scream all you want. Avoid it. Ignore it. Act like it doesn’t exist. But, I believe fear needs to be honored, respected and understood. Rational courageous people understand that fear is absolutely necessary for families and society to function. Fear is an excellent teacher and points us toward areas we need to investigate. It’s often during the discovery process our fears can be overcome. But, for some people, just the mention of or the idea about their greatest fear sets off emotional hurricanes within them. People can be paralyzed by their fear or worse—they live with it day in and day out. Their fears take over their life and destroy everyone and everything they ever cared about. 

I am kind of a nut. I grew up in a family that encouraged us to do dumb things. It is in our family DNA. I am willing to try almost anything once. I’m an experiential learner and it's how I build trust with people. When I find someone else who wants to do dumb things, I believe I’ve got a winner! We learn from each other and can regale stories of epic failures. What’s really cool is when my epic failure can be used to help someone else avoid their epic failure. My learning style is directly related to my fear factor. It’s also the way I love to have fun. 

Yep, I’ve gotten hurt. That’s not the end of the world!

Of course, I’ve been embarrassed more times than I like to admit. I accepted the consequences of doing dumb things long ago but I’ve also reaped the rewards. I am good at some tasks and awkward in other areas. But, I’ve learned that everyone is awkward when we try something we’ve never done before and we will make mistakes. Geesh! Lighten up! Face your worst fear, discover something about it and innovate. You’re smart. You’ve gotten this far in life but maybe now it’s time to take it up a notch. Stop procrastinating. If you want me to come along, I will be there with you. But, surely you want to take Jesus’ word over mine. (Matthew 28:20)

Sunday we plan to explore a well known parable Jesus told with regards to fear. (Matthew 25:14-30) Eugene Peterson interprets this passage so well, I cannot improve on it. Read it for yourself:  

“The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’

 “The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’ Matthew 25:24-30 The Message

Pastor Jen