Intentionally Missionalنموونە

Call It Courage

While I was homeschooling our daughter in Cambodia, we read a book titled: "Call it Courage." It's about a boy who was named "Stout Heart" but was known as "the boy who was afraid." The people called him a coward while his own father –the great Chief– was embarrassed by him. After his mother had died trying to save both of them from a raging sea storm, he was forever terrified of the sea. At age 15, he was confronted with the reality that he no longer wanted to be known as "the boy who was afraid."

What do we call courage?

Is courage all about living on the edge, taking risks and chasing after activities or adventures that get your adrenaline going?

Is it leaping before you jump, and jumping before you walk and walking before you crawl?

Is it going with your heart and not your head?

Is it grabbing life by the throat?

NO! 

Courage is:

·        Stepping OUT every day. With hands not clenched but wide open and arms lifted — out of the comfort of my home, my country, my culture. 

·        Stepping IN. Into a new and foreign land, where dirt and dust greet you every day, where the dichotomy of rich and poor strikes you unceasingly, where chaos takes on a new level, where you drive like your life depends on it because it does and where you smile and never confront or show signs of anger or dissatisfaction even when you know you're not getting the best bargain.

·        Looking UPWARD to the one who holds your life in his hands and who is completely in control.

·        Holding ON to the hands of our Savior who will lead us through each experience to grow us.

Courage is not found in you or me — we are not the source.

As children of God, my husband and I refused to be dictated by fear, nor did we want to allow terror to immobilize us. Our courage is not within ourselves. It is not something we muster up. Rather, our courage is in the promise of our God. The same God of Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, and the whole nation of Israel who was always with them and helping them WHEREVER and WHENEVER he called them.