How many things in your life have you wanted to do but haven’t?  You probably even had, or maybe still have, very good reasons for not doing whatever it is you wanted to do but didn’t.  I know I have a few…ok, a lot.  I could give you a lot of really believable and absolutely practical not to mention logical reasons for the things I haven’t tried in my life, but it would, to quote a better writer than me, “taste of a lie.’ The truth, as you already know, is that fear generally keeps us from taking the risks to try new things.  There are times when this can be a good thing I guess.  There was that time I wanted to build a submarine out of an old natural gas tank for a summer camp skit and put my best friend in it…30ft under water.  Actually I think it was the camp director that put a stop to that and not fear, but you know what I mean.

You know what really doesn’t make any sense at all (besides my submarine idea)?  That we ever allow fear to keep us from doing something especially if we have a pretty good idea that it’s something God brought us into.  There is a virtual plethora of promises God has given telling us not to be afraid because He will always be with us.  He has given us stories that show Him doing exactly He promises; Moses and Pharaoh, Joshua and Jericho, David and Goliath, the list goes on!  Everyone had something or someone to fear, a boogeyman if you will.  But, as Bob and Larry say, God is bigger than the boogeyman, and anything in our lives that makes us afraid.

In today’s modern and sophisticated world you and I probably aren’t looking down the shaft of a giant spear, being chased by an Egyptian army, or shut out by insurmountable walls.  But sometimes we do feel shut out, we might be chased by a past we can’t seem to escape or confronted with things that seem way bigger than we are.  For me it’s failure.  I’m afraid to fail.  I know there are all kinds of psychological and emotional reasons behind it all that I can work through with therapy and perhaps some meditation.  Or I can take God at His word, step out in faith, and know that even if i misstep or even fall, it’s not the end of the world.  My worth is not measured by the sum total of my successes and failures.  My worth is measured by how loved I am.  Now the God of the universe took time out of eternity to create me, He gave His son’s life for me, and has the angels doing construction on a home He designed with me in mind.  I don’t care how I fail in this world, nothing can make God love me any more or less than He already does.  In fact, knowing what all my failures would be, Jesus still chose me and my eternal joy over His own or haven’t you heard, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

So where is all this going? Simply this: I’m going to make a movie.  Theatre is something I have no doubt God put in my life.  Though it’s crazy, there are things I haven’t tried to do with theatre because I was afraid of how much it would cost, how much time it would take, all the “Jericho walls” that would prevent me from finishing…basically fearing failure.  No more, I am going to step, no, run into the terrifying adventure of creating a film.  I’ve no idea about what but I’m not going to allow little details like that to slow me down.  I’m going to dive in to the depths of this sea with the life vest of God’s promise He will never leave me alone.

Now understand, I don’t tell you this so you’ll be impressed.  I imagine my first film will have all the aesthetics of a monkey with a camera.  I tell you all this to challenge you.  What has fear kept you from?  What adventure, risk, open door, whatever you want to call it, have you turned away from because of fear?  Say, “No more!”  Let God deal with the walls, the armies and the giants.  You need not fight those battles, as God has said, the battles belong to Him.  The giants will fall, the walls will crumble and the seas will part when you walk through them by faith.  Why?  Because when you walk by faith your walking with the God of the universe, and nothings bigger than Him.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Deut. 31:6