FEAR’S EDGES
My goodness…time really does fly, or so it seems. We are now in the last two months of
2017! This season of the year reminds me
of our varsity football experiences. The
late Coach Joe Gladys would give us Greyhounds a challenging pep talk before we
re-entered the gridiron to commence the second half of competition. While
his talks were always different (based largely upon the scoreboard status), they
contained one common theme: ‘What will we do to assure that we are
operating at peak performance in the latter half of the game?’
In the waning moments of this year, it is imperative that we
approach every day and task with courage and consistency. We must refuse
to live in the shadow of FEAR, which is a highly adept and lethal assassin of dreams
and potential. Consider the following story, courtesy of Scott Higgins.
Philip Island, in Victoria Australia, plays host to one of the
greatest nature experiences possible. On the shores of Philip Island are
the burrows of thousands upon thousands of fairy penguins, extraordinarily cute
little birds that are somewhat short in stature. Every morning the adult
penguins head out to sea to catch fish. At the end of the day, they
return to land to bring back food for their chicks. Watching them moving
from the water to their burrows is both funny and fascinating. The
penguins surf in on the waves, then gather in groups at the water’s edge.
Their burrows are roughly 300 feet away, with the open space of the sandy
beach standing between the sea and their home turf.
Suddenly, a group of penguins takes off, waddling as fast as their
little legs can carry them across the beach. But then, having traveled
only 25 feet or so, they turn around and then waddle back toward the
water. They wait, then try again. As one group finally makes it, another
performs this strange ritual of turning heading homeward and turning back.
On it goes until eventually all the penguins cross the beach and meet up
with their hungry chicks in the burrows.
What’s really going on here? Why this strange
stop-start-and-return ritual? The answer is quite simple. At sea,
the birds are fast swimmers and able to dive deep. Therefore, at sea,
they are safe from predators such as eagles and hawks. Within their
burrows, they are similarly safe since they are below ground. But out on the open
beach, they are quite vulnerable, completely exposed. On the beach, they
can only waddle slowly and are easy pickings for predators. And so, as
they cross over the beach sands, the moment that they see a shadow of anything,
they turn back and race for the safety of the water.
Undoubtedly, we humans are a lot like fairy penguins. When
confronted with challenging situations, we find ourselves standing uncertainly
at the water’s edge. We know where we’ve got to go. We know we’ve got to cross the ‘beach’ and
head toward our ‘home’ – but the journey seems somehow daunting and
terrifying. You see, as we step out of
the water and waddle across the beach, we leave our safety and comfort zone
behind. We find ourselves in ‘no-man’s
land’ where it feels rather uncertain, dangerous and disconcerting. However, to
arrive home, we must abandon our safety zone and strike out into THE FAITH ZONE,
that dynamic intersection of human risk and divine reward.
My friend, it’s called LIFE. Prayerfully consider this
thought provoking question for the remaining days of 2017: 'Are you up to
the challenge of abandoning your anxieties and fears to experience the power
and potential of what lies ahead?' It is my prayer that you
will have a most fulfilling and fruitful remainder of this year. No fear.
No hesitancy. Only faith.
Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above
all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.
Maranatha!
