November 19th

Be strong and courageous

             ^“Be strong and courageous; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.” Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their ancestors to give them; and you will put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Deuteronomy 31:6-8

            I was a big, clumsy kid with a stutter.  My shoe size matched my age from age 6-13.  My body grew at a rate that I was not able to handle and my childhood memories are filled with embarrassing coordination mishaps.  Tripping over my own feet as I walked?  Check.  Running over people on the playground because I could not change direction in time?  Check.  Missing the soccer ball as I kicked at it during practices and games?  Check.  Walking home from school and walking into parked cars because my body would not respond to my mind in time?  Check.  Trying to answer a question in class but not being able to get a word out?  Check.  My formative years were spent just trying to hide and blend in.  I slouched.  I tried to avoid speaking and I gravitated to behind the scenes service rather than up-front roles.

            And then I moved into ministry and found myself put in positions of authority and public speaking over and over again.  I was asked to preach and I was asked to make speeches and tell stories and lead trainings and facilitate meetings and a large part of my adult life now happens in front of an audience.  And yet I still carry with me the image of the big, clumsy kid with a stutter who just wants to get through a single day unnoticed.

            Several people have asked me how I made that shift.  Part of it was necessity because there was no one else to do it.  Part of it was practice for there is a comfort level that comes from doing something difficult over and over again.  However those two alone were not enough.  I still was physically ill every time I had to speak in front of a crowd.  The moment that moved me past that condition happened because I was praying and God echoed this passage to me.  The Lord has not just called me to speak.  He has not just equipped me with the right ideas and the right words and the right mix of humor.  He is also with me.

            See…in my mind, whenever I got up to speak, I was talking to both the actual audience and God and He was grading whether I was perfect or whether I failed.  What that passage has to say, however, is that God gets up on that stage with me.  He is not watching for my failures; He is with me, speaking to me and through me.  I can stand strong.  I can be courageous.  I can step boldly into what He has called me into because He has prepared me and He has prepared the way and He is with me through it all.

            That is true of public speaking.  That is true of my writing and my administrative jobs.  That is also true of my parenting.  God did not give me a special needs son in order to watch me flail.  He is not standing with a clipboard, shaking His head in disappointment.  God has given me this boy because I have been prepared for this.  I married someone who has been prepared for this.  I have resources and platforms that were made to enrich lives because of this.  And God is with me through it all.  He was with me on the late night drives when I tried to get the boy to sleep.  He was with me on all the trips that we struggled through.  He was with me, lying on that floor working on math homework. 

            For those reasons, we do not have to fear.  For those reasons, we can step boldly into parenting.  For those reasons, we can be strong and courageous as we face the unknown.  Not only has God prepared us for this, He walks with us every step of the way.

            Be Bold.  Be Courageous.  God is with you.

A moment to reflect:

Close your eyes.  Imagine Jesus with you, right here and right now.  What does He say to you?