Fear Less

There have been plenty of times people have described me as fearless. They see that I have traveled the world and participated in activities deemed adventurous. However, I have noticed that their eyes widen the most when they hear that I am traveling to the continent of Africa.

Some people fear going there because they can only see corruption, chaos, and poverty. In their eyes, Africa is a small country and if there is war in one part, there must be war in another. Fear will not allow them to see anything different.

I found it interesting when I was living in Ghana and an older man told me that he was scared to come to the U.S. He stated that his son lives in New York City, but he refuses to visit because he is afraid he will be shot. At this moment, I saw that fear is non-discriminatory. It will always present itself with no respecter of persons.

My response to him was the same thing I tell myself and everyone else when fear attempts to paralyze us, “Death is inevitable. It is okay to make smart and informed decisions, but don’t die before you live”. Or how Mark Batterson boldly stated in his book Chase the Lion, “Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.”

Go on the trip. Pursue the job. Start the business. Climb the mountain. Chase the lion.

I do not think there was ever a time I was unafraid. I just pushed through and did it anyway. Every day, I have to commit to fear less. Some days are a lot harder than others and I may want to give up. However, I think about the lives that are attached to me and the fact that someone could be counting on me to take that leap of faith. We never know who will be healed by our decision to live; our decision to fear less.