Photo Credit: Stuart miles @freedigitalphotos.net

For most of my life I thought of courage as an absence of fear, or at least having only a small amount of fear.  Some of you may define it the same way.  Even some dictionaries define it that way, but most that I have found go a different direction.

The vast majority of resources that I have found define courage as the ability to face fear, pain, danger, or uncertainty.  So, it’s not a lack of fear, but the ability to press on in spite of fear.  Experience seems to bear this out as well.  I don’t know about you, but it seems that my fears have increased with time rather than diminishing.  Mostly because I have more to lose.  I have very little fear for myself, but I have my wife and kids, ministry, the future, and countless other things that at times give me reason to need courage.

The problem I see in myself, and that you may recognize in your life, is that I understand what courage is but often fail to dig deep when it really counts.  I face the easy challenges pretty well, but when God allows a big challenge into my life, a real Goliath that comes and stands over me shouting down threats of illness, financial ruin, hurt, loss, or something else that makes me fearful, then I want to retreat to safety and ask, “why is God allowing this to happen to me?”  “I thought God said He would be with me…”  Can you relate?  If so, I hope the following video will help you.