Fear Not

Written by Ivy | 30 January 2012

There is a story I once read online from a Kansas State Highway Patrol Officer. The story goes like this:

I made a traffic stop on an elderly lady the other day for speeding on U.S. 166 Eastbound at Mile Marker 73 just East of Sedan, KS. I asked for her driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance. The lady took out the required information and handed it to me.

In with the cards I was somewhat surprised, due to her advanced age, to see she had a conceal carry permit. I looked at her and asked if she had a weapon in her possession at this time.

She responded that she indeed have a .45 automatic in her glove box. Something, body language or the way she said it, made me want to ask if she had any other firearms. She did admit to also having a 9mm Glock in her center console.

Now I had to ask one more time if that was all. She responded once again that she did have just one more, a .38 special in her purse.

I then asked her what was she so afraid of.

She looked me right in the eye and said, "Not a damn thing!"

You know we all should live like this... but not because we have unlimited gun power at our fingertips.

Think about the things you fear in life. It's not the stuff that keeps you up at night - the boogie man under the bed or the monster in the closet - that necessarily hold you back.

Fears of stuff is actually pretty easy to handle. I'll use myself as an example. When it comes to the things that truly terrify me, I've always taken them head on. For as long as I can remember, I have always been afraid to die in a fire. So, I became a certified firefighter. I have fought fires head on (literally in this case), but I have also learned the real dangers and how to handle them.

Tangible fears can be dealt with head on. If you are afraid of heights, go stand on something high and look down. It may not get you over your fear, but it will help you know you can handle it.

But what about the intangible fears... the stuff that you can't define. That's the stuff that truly holds us back.

It's so intangible that you can't really even name it.

Failure often comes to mind. We've all failed. So we can't truly be afraid of that. Look around that word. What does failure mean to you? What would failure look like in your life?

To me, the only way I could really fail in life is to hurt my husband or my son. True failure would also be disappointing God. But how would I do those things?

As you can tell, I've really been thinking about this subject a lot. The easiest way to hurt my husband or son is to not fully be here in life, to not live. And disappointing God? Well Pastor Steven Furtick, of Elevation Church, really summed that one up for me the other day.

"God knows you’re going to fail. That thing you did yesterday: Jesus already knew you were going to do it before you did it. The same with the thing you did today, and the thing you’ll do tomorrow."

So if God already knows what I'm going to fail, how can I disappoint him? Disappointment comes with surprise right? If you knew someone was going to do something, then you wouldn't be disappointed.

Pastor Furtick summed it up perfectly:

"That might sound scary at first, but it should actually encourage you. God knows about it already, has known about it from eternity, but He hasn’t given up on you. So why have you given up on yourself?"

It's a good question. Let me put it another way. What is it again that we're all so afraid of?