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Fearful World The Bible frequently encourages and reminds us to fear not or not be afraid. That covers a lot of ground. Fear can prompt an ordinary man to great bravery or send a brave man like Peter who walked on the water with Jesus, into a panic and deny knowing one of his closest friends. In a relatively peaceful country like ours, we generally don’t live with the fear of frequent terroristic activities as some countries do on a daily basis. Most of our fears center on things that affect us individually or uniquely. For it to be such a frequent topic addressed in the Bible by different writers, fear must be recognized as one of the emotions that occupies a lot of our psyche. Christ was abandoned by most of his followers at his crucifixion. He even asked his Father, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” Fear of rejection or being forsaken is scary to us all. Observe little ones left behind in a nursery or with a babysitter as a parent fights to hold back tears. Think about parents whose child has chosen to no longer speak to them. What about the pain of feelings of rejection and abandonment as a spouse walks out the door for the last time or a loved one chooses to end their life rather than stay here and fight through this thing called daily living. Daily living can make cowards of us all. Most of us sometime have wanted to do as Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life” speaks about rolling up into a little ball and dying. Some days the fight is just about too much. For most of us somehow, we summon up the courage to fight off those oppressive claws of depression and helplessness to live and fight another day. In reality most of us are like Samurai warriors who rage on against the storm, against at times what feels like overwhelming odds. If not for pure survival, we fight for our spouses and children and our very way of life that we’ve sacrificed for and dreamed of. A big key to overcoming fear and surviving in this life is the phrase, “In spite of.” We can accept defeat and make all our excuses and settle for less, or we can keep on fighting in spite of having a short stick. Victory goes to the man in the arena swinging till the bell rings. No one on the sidelines wins. It is a fearful world out there just daring us to fight the good fight. Fear of failure, rejection, exclusion all constantly face us. Do we cave or give the ultimate rejection to the world out there that mocks us and dare us to keep on keeping on.