I was walking into the building as fear gripped me like it often has. In that moment of panic, deep within my soul, I heard this phrase . . . “Be strong and courageous.” If you’ve read the Bible you might recognize that as as scripture from the book of Joshua, Chapter 1, verse 9. That phrase has come up at significant times in my life over the last couple of years. In that moment as I reflected on that scripture, I rehearsed that passage in my head. That particular phrase is actually repeated three times in the matter of a few verses. The first time it says, “be strong and courageous.” The next two times, it says “Be strong and very courageous.”

That afternoon I was walking into this meeting knowing that I was about to have a conversation about a risky move. That simple word was my reminder.

Prior to that meeting and since, I’ve been thinking a lot about fear. Fear does a lot of things, but one of the primary things it does is that it cripples us. That’s what it does ... its primary job ... is to shut us down. Looking back over the last few years and significant moments throughout it, I wonder what life would have looked like had I not been limited by fear.

If you’re like me, you’d like to figure out how to live life apart from fear. Wouldn’t life be much easier if we could find a way to somehow magically eradicate fear from the scene whenever it appeared? While I would like to think that this was possible, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t think it is. Fear is a apart of this world in which we live. So ... if we can’t eliminate fear, we have to figure out how to not be crippled by it. I’ve heard it said before as it relates to fear ... “then do it afraid.” 

So that day I walked into that meeting and quit my job. Even seeing those words on the screen makes my heart skip a beat ... or two. While that seems drastic ... irrational ... even stupid ... this is something I’be been thinking about for some time. It was several months of pondering ... of praying ... of asking questions. In the weeks leading up to that day, it was becoming clearer and clearer ... and this was the time.

In that meeting, I was given some “safer options” to the radical decision of being completely jobless. Throughout that conversation, I keep hearing that phrase, “be strong and courageous” ... “be brave.” I actually had the visual picture in my mind of stepping out of a boat. 

Stepping out of a boat while in the middle of any body of water isn’t likely to end well. You’re likely to get wet ... even sink. That’s the point of stepping out of the boat ... it’s not safe ... it’s risky ... and you have to be brave. And that’s what I was hearing. Don’t take the safe route that’s being offered to you. Be brave.

That’s my phrase for 2019 ... “Be Brave.” When faced with fear ... that feeling that causes me to want to go throw up in my trash can or jump and run ... I want to respond with bravery ... not fear.

What would your year look like if you faced fear head on and embraced a life of bravery? What does bravery look like for you?