Real Hope: A Call to CourageSample

Doing What Needs To Be Done

I have frequently visited the War Memorial in Canberra. One of the most moving sections of it is the gallery recording the winners of the Victoria Cross for extraordinary things done by otherwise ordinary people. I cannot begin to grasp the courage shown by them. I wonder then at my own lack of courage, yet courage can be simply having the strength to do what needs to be done. It could be in a soldier in battle, a child starting school, an elderly person needing to be in full-time nursing care, someone caring for a family member with dementia, or someone who keeps turning up for job interviews.

Courage is not the opposite of fear. If there is no fear there is no courage. And I don’t get that courage by psyching myself up to be brave. I get it by reminding myself of the strong presence of God. I remind myself that the threat I face, while real, is not the only reality. God may remove that threat but often the threat remains and God does not lead me around it but through it. When Joshua was on the brink of the promised land, he was urged to have courage. Not because the threat wasn’t real, but because God would be with him. Courage kicks in not when fear is absent, but when God is present.

Written by DAVID REAY