I read the first chapter of Max Lucado’s book, “Fearless” and thought it was the perfect way to end the year via blog.  Yeah, yeah…it’s that time of year when we do the time-honored “resolution” tradition.  Whatever.  I haven’t made them in years and haven’t decided if I will do so this year.  One thing that I do know is that I am taking on a different life theme this year and that is learning to tell fear to “stick it!”  That’s right, I said  “stick it!”  I’m tired of carrying it around on my back everywhere I go.  No more free rides for fear!

Yeah, yeah…easier said than done, eh?

Well, I didn’t say that it would necessarily take a hike just because I said to, but that doesn’t mean I need to keep on molly coddling it!  It will most likely try everything it can to stay on, but I’m sure not going to make it an easy ride!  I’m just saying…no more doormat for me when it comes to fear.

Whew…enough of all that.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to divulge my fears on here today and write a 400 page post or anything.  I’m just going to take this year and truly work on releasing the hold of fear and hopefully create a few posts along the way.  I am going to pray for each of them specifically and be still…well, I suppose this is where I should say that I am going to be praying about learning to be still first and then get to the fear thing.  Believe me, it’s going to be a long journey!

That being said…here is a little excerpt from Lucado’s book.  He also has the entire first chapter on his website at http://www.maxlucado.com/articles/excerpts/fearless_chapter_1

Here you go…

“They’re talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming, breakouts of Al Qaeda cells. Some demented dictator is collecting nuclear warheads like others collect fine wines. A strain of Asian flu is boarding flights out of China. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word terror. News programs disgorge enough hand-wringing information to warrant an advisory. “Caution: this news report is best viewed in the confines of an underground vault in Iceland.”

We fear being sued, finishing last, going broke; we fear the mole on the back, the new kid on the block, the sound of the clock as it ticks us closer to the grave. We sophisticate investment plans, create elaborate security systems, and stronger military; yet we depend on mood-altering drugs more than any generation in history. Moreover, “the average child today … has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s.”

Fear, it seems, has taken a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, unwilling to share the heart with happiness. Happiness complies. Do you ever see the two together? Can one be happy and afraid at the same time? Clear thinking and afraid? Confident and afraid? Merciful and afraid? No. Fear is the big bully in the high school hallway: brash, loud, and unproductive. For all the noise fear makes and room it takes, fear does little good.

Fear never wrote a symphony or poem, negotiated a peace treaty, or cured a disease. Fear never pulled a family out of poverty or a country out of bigotry. Fear never saved a marriage or a business. Courage did that. Faith did that. People who refused to consult or cower to their timidities did that. But fear itself? Fear herds us into a prison of unlocked doors.

Wouldn’t it be great to walk out?

Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, or doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, absent the dread of failure, rejection, or calamity. Can you imagine a life with no fear? This is the possibility behind Jesus’ question.


“Why are you afraid?” he asks.”