What are you afraid of?

At Bible study the other day we were discussing fear. The discussion stayed with me over the past week or so and I've been thinking a lot about what I am afraid of. Then I started thinking about how much fear limits us in our lives. We hold back from a lot of things out of fear; granted that is good in some cases because our fear pushes us toward caution to protect ourselves. But sometimes that fear robs us of experiences that we would enjoy or would prompt growth in us.

A lot of this occurred to me on Tuesday when I was helping my friend (the onion farmer) move his trucks up to where the farm is. These are pretty big trucks, of a size that I have never driven. These trucks are also manual transmission which I know how to drive but I've only done so in small cars and it has been probably 6 years since I've done it. So I was reluctant to help because it didn't sound fun and actually sounded like potential for me to smash his truck or another vehicle on the road. But he needed help so I went out there to do it. We took two trips, and the whole first trip I was pretty worried. I was gripping the steering wheel tightly, I was afraid to turn on the radio and I was paranoid about stopping and going at stop lights and signs. I was praying extensively that I wouldn't kill anyone or damage any vehicles.

I and the 2 onion trucks I transported survived the ordeal. Now not to say that this was some amazing experience or anything. But I did overcome my fear and drive a big truck and was able to help out a friend. All the while the fear I was feeling was telling me to "find a way out of it, remain cautious and don't do anything you're not comfortable with".

Have you missed opportunities because you were afraid? Does fear inhibit you on a regular basis in your day to day life? Have you overcome fear to do something really awesome?

New News

I'm ready for a new news source. Yesterday I heard a radio news snippet that there were some deaths in Afghanistan. So I looked up the AP story and was very disappointed.

What if we had a news company that was committed to reporting events to us through a lens of love and respect. Instead of reporting "just the facts" and numbers, instead of slipping in judgements and condemnations of people, instead of putting spins or pushing agendas, instead of pretty much everything that is characteristic of our current news sources; this company would love the people it is reporting about and to.

Can you imagine this news company? I hope you can. Think about it, and tell me what it would be like.

Here's one thing I know would happen with this news company. When reporting on recent deaths in the war it wouldn't be just a statistic to be compared with how many deaths we've had in days past and it wouldn't be used as a chance to point out the deaths that occurred a while back because a helicopter crashed while not engaged with the enemy. It wouldn't comment on how long the war has gone on and how many troops the president has sent. This news company would acknowledge the sacrifice that was made by the ones that died. It would tell us who they were, why they were serving and what they had accomplished. It would encourage us to appreciate their lives and to let our hearts break with those of their family members and friends. We would see anguish in the face of the news anchor that has to relate this story and it wouldn't be crammed in between sports scores and weather reports.

What would this news company be like? Remember, they report in a spirit of love and respect for those they report about and to.