Fear
by Brent Ndiffer
Living in the beautiful "High Country" of Western North Carolina affords us multiple outdoor recreational activities -- hiking, water sports in the summer, and winter snow skiing.
I was reminded the other day of something John Ortberg said. He observed that "snow skiing will surface the worst of human nature in the best of us. Many a skier has pointed his ski tips down the barrel of a black-diamond rated slope toward the lodge and have barely lived to regret it."
One fellow learned the hard way. As he quickly entered the land of no control, he instinctively leaned backward in hope of averting disaster. Of course, leaning back in skiing is to invite the ultimate disaster!
We all do that. But in life, as in snow skiing, the answer is not to react in fear and lean backward and away from the experience, but rather to lean into it. It is when we lean into the dilemmas of life, and trust the hand of a Savior, that we gain control.
Jesus reminds us "Fear not, for I am with you" (Matthew 28: 20). Let's learn to lean in without fear, trusting in the "everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27) to catch us if we fall.
Posted: 03/31/2000
URL: http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200003/20000331_fear.htmlCopyright (c) 2000, Timely Truths Ministries. Used by permission.
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