Courage Under Fire

I was waiting for my editor to clean up my column before I shared this but tonight after reading my Bible passage I decided to share my Firefighter Ministries column, unedited, with you. Every month on our organization's website I post a column. This month I wrote about courage. I have been dealing with a lot of fear, the unknown, and with courage. Last night and today I have been batteling my fear and then I read Psalm 27. I feel a lot better and will really cling to those verses over the coming weeks.

Anyway, here is my column (remember it's unedited):

Courage Under Fire

It's pretty common for firefighters to hear that they have courage because they are willing to enter into dangerous situations, risking their lives for others. For those who work within the emergency medical services, they are seen as brave individuals because they deal with the wreckage and carnage of humans who have been badly injured. Having courage in this line of work is second nature for most of us. But what about courage in your personal life? Do you face life's adversities with courage or do you bend under pressure?

I have been going through a difficult situation these last few weeks and many of my family and friends are giving me Bible verses to read, offering me words of encouragement, telling me to pray, and telling me not to worry because God is in control. When I ready through the verses or think about their encouragement, I still feel fear about my situation and I want to run and hide. I think about ways I can get out of doing the things I need to do in order to resolve my problem. I do some bargaining with God. I huddle in a ball and cry. I try and dissasociate myself from the situation. And at the end of the day when I sit in the silence, I feel like I am a wimp. I don't feel brave. I wonder why it's so easy for me to run into a burning building but it's so hard for me to face this problem.. And then I think, what does it really mean to have courage?

There are many verses in the Bible that say to be strong and courageous. That's seems easier said than done when we are looking into the eyes of our personal 'Goliath.' How are we to have courage to go on with life when a spouse has died? How are we supposed to have the courage to face and deal with the problems in our relationships that we tend to brush under the rug? What about that serious medical diagnosis? How do you find the courage to go through the treatments that might be painful? Or what about the dirty jokes or the questionable activities of co-workers? Do you stand up against them or shy away? All of these situations require courage in order to resolve the conflict that is taking place.

Eleanor Roosevelt summed up what it means to have courage with this quote: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

We must do the thing we think we cannot do. We must seek God, surround ourselves with family and friends, put into place a network of support and then take the step...sometimes leap of faith. We must walk into the darkness of the unknown and pray that with that first step a little light will begin to shine and light
our way. Sometimes we just have to be afraid and do it anyway. Sometimes the situation is not as bad as we imagined it to be and other times it's worse but we hope and pray that the end result will be a better life. This
life isn't meant to be easy or pain free but at least we know that when we walk with God and lean on our loved ones, the journey won't be as lonely. I'm telling myself that...and on most days I believe it. On those other days, it just takes me longer to get there.