What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?

“Educational tours of Europe tailored for high schoolers,” I said with enthusiasm, turning the pages. “What if I help students fundraise during the school year and then take them to Europe through this program?!”

In a previous life, I served on staff at a boarding high school for teenagers from around the world. I wore several hats while there, including Activities Director. Whenever I came up with a brilliant idea—which was quite often—my cautious husband with his analytical brain was quick to point out what could go wrong. “How are you going to keep track of teenagers in Europe? What if you lose one? What if you can’t raise enough money?”

Having large goals

Turns out, we did raise the funds—four years in a row. And I didn’t lose a single student while traveling internationally.

Well … there was the year when our twelve-day European tour ended in Frankfurt, Germany. We checked in at the airport only to learn that the visa of one of the senior students, Sofia, was expired.

She was from Mexico, had been accepted at a U.S. university, and her parents were in Oregon to help her make that transition. The college had indicated they would help Sofia with the visa renewal paperwork, not knowing that she would be traveling in Europe that summer.

And now, at the Frankfurt airport, the authorities weren’t going to allow Sofia back into the United States.

I put the rest of the students on the plane pointed toward America, and Sofia and I took a train to the American embassy in Frankfurt. We stood at the back of a line snaking past the gatehouse with the guard dogs and barbed wire. The embassy closed at noon on Fridays. It was Friday. And it was 11:40 AM. We weren’t going to make it in that day.

And then the man in the gatehouse leaned out the window. “Are there any U.S. citizens in line?” I raised my hand. There were more than a dozen people ahead of me, but I was the next-in-line U.S. citizen. The embassy officials believed our (true) story without any corroborative documents—which could never have happened in today’s climate. Sofia’s visa was renewed, and we were back at the Frankfurt airport the next day to catch a flight home.

No matter that every international quest carried some risk, through the process these teenagers learned to set a goal, roll up their sleeves, and work toward that end. And the reward was an up-close-and-personal introduction to the astonishing diversity of cultures, art, cuisines, and architecture of the Old World.

You get to choose

And then there’s Moses, the trailblazer who led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. The destination was the land promised to Abraham, the father of the Israeli nation. But when Moses’ time on earth was complete, the leadership mantle fell to a warrior named Joshua.

God gave instructions to the new leader for crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land:

“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. … Be strong and very courageous. … Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:6,7,9

Three times in succession, God spoke this imperative to Joshua: “Be strong and courageous.” Three. Times. It’s almost as if God was saying …

“Josh. Choose strength and courage.”

“No really, Josh, you be strong and courageous.”

“Joshua, look at me. Be. Strong. Be. Courageous.”

Joshua took this command to heart. He chose strength and courage. He trusted God. He led the children of Israel successfully into the land promised to them by the living God.

You get to choose, I get to choose whether or not we’ll be strong and courageous.

What has God engraved on your heart?

Most worthwhile things in life will involve some sort of risk. By opening our hearts to another person, we expose ourselves to rejection. And there’s always the risk that they’ll leave us—by choice or through death.

Having children is a risk in so many ways.

Signing up for a creative class is precarious because fellow students will see our art, hear our music, watch us dance—and what if it’s no good, what if we’re no good?

Following our passion to launch a God-inspired dream or goal—open a tea-and-yarn shop, train to be a smokejumper, pursue a career in the medical field—these all carry the possibility of failure.

But there is something far worse than rejection or humiliation or failure. And that is, not chasing down what you believe God has invited you to do with your one available, surrendered, exceptional life. Not realizing your purpose for being placed on this tilting, whirling planet. Not opening your heart to people.

What has God invited you to do? What would you do if you weren’t afraid?