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Facing Fear |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 6/22/2010 2:18 PM | Greetings on another steamy day,
Recently Carol and I went to a play in which one of the characters uttered this line: “It scares me so much that I just know I have to do it.” As the line was delivered, I knew that even though it got a big laugh from the audience, it was profound and instructive beyond the attention given it. It was used to illustrate what a free spirit the person who uttered it was and it served it’s purpose well. It got me thinking about times I had stepped up to my fears, and what the result of that was.
When I was about 14 our Boy Scout troop was chosen as the Governors Honor Guard, which meant that we got to spend two weeks on Mackinac Island in a barracks behind the Governors summer residence. We put up the flag every morning, we worked as guides in Fort Michilimackinac, we got to meet the governor and his wife, and each day about 3:00 we got to go to the Grand Hotel swimming pool. The Grand Hotel is an enormous turn of the century hotel whose one claim to fame is that it has the longest porch of any hotel in the world. Many of you know it as the setting for the Christopher Reeve movie “Somewhere in Time”. The hotel and the island were a perfect setting for that turn of the century movie because no cars are allowed on the island – only horses and bicycles. Anyway, back to the pool.
The Grand Hotel pool is this enormous kidney bean shaped pool with a 3 meter diving platform at one end. Not just a diving board and a high dive…I’m talking all that and the HIGHEST dive. Each day we’d go there and I told myself I would dive off the highest height. I would climb up there and chicken out. I would jump off, but diving off was a whole ‘nother thing.
About 6 days into our stay, my friend Steve Witt started to egg me on. He had heard me say I was going to do it, but saw that I never did. He certainly wasn’t going to do it, but he was going to do his best to shame me into not being a chicken. “What’s the worst that could happen?” he asked. “Well, I could end not diving at the right angle and either smacking my back or doing a belly flop, splitting myself wide open when I hit the water and causing the pool to be closed for several days while they cleaned up the blood.” “Yeah, maybe,” he said thoughtfully, “but that’d be pretty cool, too.” One of our scoutmasters, who happened to be Steve’s father, said, “No, no. You’re looking at this all wrong. When you face your fear, the question should be “What’s the best that could happen?”
I found myself at the top end of the platform, trying to will myself to do it. “Just dive,” I thought to myself. “You’ve dived 1000 times off a spring board, off the one meter board, how hard could this be? C’mon, you’ve lived a good life, if you screw up, at least you’d go out in spectacular fashion. Besides, what’s the best that could happen?” And with that, I dove off the platform. I’m not going to tell you that it was with perfect form, or that I soared off the platform like and eagle in flight. No, I more or less just leaned forward in a dive position and fell into the water. But I hit the water cleanly, hands leading my head into the water, and the rest of my body following more or less in some semblance of a dive that was actually planned. When I came up for air, Steve and his father were applauding and smiling and I ran back up the ladder and did it again, and again, and again. By the time we left Mackinac Island I was actually doing a flip off the platform so that I jumped off the platform, and flipped all the way over in midair so that I hit the water feet first. I would never again fear the high dive. What was there to worry about?
This is akin to things that I have also faced in my faith journey. Instead of realistically looking at where God would have me go, too often, I have found myself wrestling with my fears and coming up with every possible bad thing that was going to happen if I followed God’s path. But in those times when I have thrown my fears away and stepped out in faith, I have found that my fears were for naught and that I (metaphorically) entered the water cleanly – more or less – each time. Think about it: how many times have your worries kept you up at night, but when you faced the problem head on, everything worked out? I would hazard a guess that it in my life, it has been that way about 90% of the time…yet still, there are days when my worries almost get the better of me.
In our Jeremiah Bible study, we talked last week how God’s word to the prophets almost always started with the same line: “Fear not, for I am with you.” And that comes into play for me in those times when my worries do come true and I find myself in the midst of a crisis situation. This is where God’s presence is so emboldening. Much like standing on the top of the diving board, I find myself marshalling all my reserves and pushing forward when faced with a crisis. And the result is the same: I make it through. It may not be fun. It may not happen right away. But eventually, I make it through. And it’s not because I am so good, or valiant, or brave. It is because knowing that God is with me helps me ask the question, “What’s the best that could happen?” and then, diving in to see it come true.
For an updated prayer list and list of upcoming activities, please go to www.brookhavenchristian.org
For your prayer list:
Please keep Joann Chestnut, mother of Donna Hurst, in your prayers. She underwent a procedure at Emory this morning to deal with some persistent heart issues.
Please keep Tomas Chipman and Landon Loaiza in your prayers as they make their way to South Africa. They left last night and their trip will culminate when they act as flag bearers for the U.S. Soccer team before their Friday game in the World Cup. If you want to catch a glimpse of them, tune in to ESPN on Friday at 9:30 a.m. and watch them make BCC proud!
Upcoming events
Mark your calendar: Sunday June 27th immediately following worship – Official board meeting in the fellowship hall. Elders, Deacons, Committee chairs are all expected. Anyone else who would like to attend, you are most welcome.
Mark your calendar: Saturday July 10th from 1 – 4 p.m. – join us for our BCC Service Day at Campbell Stone Buckhead. Come meet some of our senior treasures, lend a helping hand and join in for Bingo and ice cream. All are welcome for an enjoyable afternoon.
I hope you can make it to worship this Sunday as we once again celebrate the Lord’s Day together. The sermon is titled “Deep Calls to Deep” and the scripture lesson is Psalm 42 and Psalm 43. Have a great rest of the week.
Be peaceful,
Brad
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