We find ourselves
at the start of a brand-new year, 2019. Time really does fly, or so it
seems. In our days of varsity football, the late Coach Joe Gladys would
give us Greyhounds a challenging pep talk before we entered the gridiron to
commence our sports competition. While his talks were always different, they
contained one common theme. ‘What are we going to do to make sure we
are operating at peak performance?’
As we embrace life
in 2019, it is imperative that we approach each day and every 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 tiny birds that stand
only 30 centimeters or so tall. 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 100 meters or
so distant, with the open space of the sandy beach standing between them and
home.
All of a sudden a
group of penguins will take off, waddling as fast as their little legs can
carry them across the beach. But then, having traveled only 10 or 15
meters, they suddenly turn around and waddle back toward the water. They
wait, then try again. One group finally makes it, but another performs
this strange ritual of turning back. And on it goes until eventually all
the penguins have crossed the beach and met up with other 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. So at sea, they are safe from predators such as eagles and
hawks. In their burrows, they are safe because they are below ground.
However, out on the open beach, they are very vulnerable, completely
exposed. On the beach, they can only waddle slowly and thus they are easy
pickings for predators. And so, as they cross over the beach sands, the
moment they see a shadow or anything out of the corner of their eyes, they turn
back and race for the safety of the water.
It seems that we
humans are a lot like those 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
back toward our home burrow, but it all seems so daunting, so terrifying. You see, whenever we step out of the water and
start waddling across the beach, we leave our safety and comfort zone behind. There we find ourselves in ‘no-man’s land’
where it feels so uncertain, dangerous and downright disconcerting. However, in order to get home we must leave our
safety zone and strike out into THE FAITH ZONE where we will encounter both
risk and reward.
My friend, it’s
called LIFE. Here’s your question for the remainder of 2019: Are you up
to the challenge of abandoning anxiety and fear in order to experience the
power and embrace the potential of whatever lies ahead? My friend, have a
fulfilling and fruitful year. No fears. 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!
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