It’s much more peaceful to rely on faith than bravery!
Brave. It seems like a word we should all know and understand the meaning of. After all, we’ve been using it since we were in Kindergarten, if not sooner. The Oxford Language Dictionary defines it as “Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage – in the adjective form. A North American Indian warrior – noun form. Endure or face (unpleasant conditions or behavior) without showing fear – verb form.” Dictionaries are great ways to learn new words, but experience can be a superior tool for securing the knowledge of a concept. Just think of how someone can stand on the ground and say, “Look how amazing the sky is today”, then think of how a pilot who loves flight and being at 30,000 feet in the air will have a much different knowledge of how amazing the sky truly is. Bravery is a concept that is best learned firsthand.
I had just begun to think that bravery could be taught during a family vacation. My husband and I had our two girls and my bestie’s four girls with us on a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. While staying at the lodge, I decided to get a pass for the ropes course they offered. If you don’t have any knowledge of what a ropes course is, this is where they suit you up with a harness, attach a rope to your back, put a helmet on you, then clip the rope into a special railing system that traverses all over a three to four story high system of tight rope walks, shaky bridges, swinging rope vines, and some crazy obstacles that really make you wish you were back in shape again. Heights is not necessarily one of my fears, but falling is, so as long as I’m not falling this isn’t really a problem for me to monkey around these courses. Thinking that this was the case with all the kiddos with me, I became the comedic relief for about an hour to the late teens and early twenty-year-olds working the course, watching for everyone’s safety. Since I have volunteered for a few youth camps at church over the years, I’m already aware at this point that these courses are used for trust building and faith exercises. What I didn’t know is that I would have a lesson on bravery that day.
As we entered onto the second story landing area on this day, I noticed one of my girls with fear on her face. Her body began to lock up, and I knew that panic would be next if there wasn’t an intervention very soon. I wasn’t the only one that recognized the body language, and a course instructor/safety keeper began their way towards us both. Asking questions, I tried to find out where my tearful girl’s mind was and to my surprise, more than fear was embarrassment. As the instructor got there and began to give her tips on how to navigate through the fears, showing her that there is no way she can fall, jumping off the current obstacle and swinging around by his back, showing her that the line not only is keeping her in the railing system but that there is a second fail safe that is also attached to the railing and that the harness doesn’t hurt you (when wore right and correctly fitting) but hugs you and embraces you. I still noticed that the assurance that this is simply a trust in her protective gear exercise was not enough for her. She thanked the instructor and moved forward a bit on the course, but still was not looking one bit like this was her fun vacation time. I followed her for a bit until more tears came at another landing between obstacles. That’s when I saw what was still keeping her from the enjoyment of this crazy faith course.
A young boy whizzed around on the obstacles across from us, starring oddly at us both (probably wondering why this older, out of shape chick was squished into a harness and enjoying her second childhood up there), and that’s when the tears really came. Not as much for fear of the course, but for shame that she was the only one on this course that was scared. I explained to her that lots of people get on courses like the one we were on and had to work through fears, and that she definitely wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last. I even explained that there were people so scared they would never get on a course like the one we were on, which is when it hit me. This was more than just learning to be brave and learning to trust. Bravery and trust had gotten her up on this course, but it wasn’t going to get her through it. Realizing that she had been afraid of this but had got on the course so as not to be different from the others or even to not show others that she was afraid had taken a lot of courage, but in the midst of her storm she realized she didn’t have enough inside her to continue moving through the course without notice from those around her. She stood out and she was embarrassed about it. She had needed help from the instructor and the other kids had watched it. She was the only one who had got help when all she wanted to do was fit in with others who had not asked for or received help. Time for an intervention.
I asked her if she knew what bravery was. She slightly shook her head yes, so I asked her if she knew what you had to have to be brave. Another strange look from a kid that day was shot at me, but this one was not judgmental this time. I began to explain. “You see that boy over there, he is really good at this. He is strong, athletic, talented, and he could cross this whole course backwards, with his eyes shut, and with no hands. You want to know what he doesn’t have though? Fear. He has no fear. Do you know why he doesn’t have fear? Because he has no brain (don’t judge, mercy and exhortation are not anywhere in my spiritual gifts). He doesn’t know or doesn’t care that there is any possibility this could hurt him and be a problem for him. Now, don’t get me wrong, the things he has are great and there is beauty in what he does, and to be fair with him, maybe he worked through his fear already and is just living it up now up here, but the point is that you cannot have bravery without fear. For him, there is no reward, nothing gained, nothing put on the line, nothing to be lost, nothing to be feared. This isn’t a challenge for him. He needs to do that Ninja Warrior thing. He needs something to use his talents on that gives him something to work for. It would be like Martha Stewart having a cupcake competition with a kindergartener. It’s really not fair to compare yourself to others especially when you have something to gain up here because you do have fear, a lot of fear evidently. A lot is on the table here and you are already all in by being up here…” As I trailed off, she looked back up at me with those tear-filled eyes. One word would sum up her reward for how far she had made it. “Bravery” I said. “You see, where there is no fear, there is no bravery, and where there is no bravery, there is no reward.”
Seeing my little brave girl up there that day made me realize that there is great reward in bravery and what it takes to be brave, but it also taught me another concept as well that is even better than being brave. Just like Peter stepping out of the boat into troubled waters (Matthew 14:22-33), bravery will only get us so far, and sometimes into trouble. We need faith! We need a savior! We need more than simply to rely on ourselves because in ourselves we can fail, be let down or fall, make mistakes, miss our mark, or be tricked and deceived.
Faith, and the trust that is learned from faith, aren’t always just stepping out of the boat, and doing something big in a moment of bravery. It’s not just follow the crowd and be brave through your fears and do something that extends you past yourself so that you can build your faith muscles. Don’t get me wrong once again, these are all things that we need to work on and build up. We need to study and train, exercise, and eat well, spiritually talking here. But our belief, our faith, our trust, is in a savior who calls Himself “the Good Shepard”. He knows His sheep and comes to them both when they need Him, and when they try to do things on their own in their brave times. Even when they don’t know that they need Him, He is always there watching, waiting to give them a hand and lead them in the right direction. We sing of a good, good Father, but do we really understand how ‘Good’ He is? We get into trouble being brave, or trouble can even find us without being brave. How much more do we get ourselves into trouble though when we step out onto a high line, a shaky bridge, a rope obstacle course, or swing from life’s ropes trying to make it to the next platform where we can breathe and relax a moment from our personal strength and bravery moments? Oh, if we only knew how much more peaceful, joyful, and less stressful faith is than bravery!
Even after our brave talk on that ropes course landing, my little brave girl was ready to not be brave anymore, but instead be safe on the ground and loved on. I led her down off the course to the exit area where she would be unhooked from the railing system and allowed to remove harness, safety ropes, and helmet. I zipped through the course one last time checking on my other girls and then went down to join my brave girl breathing much steadier on the ground. We watched the other girls finish, and then as a group, went for the next meal and adventure of our vacation. That trial was over for brave little girl, and she was able to enjoy the rest of her vacation and we had some good laughs about watching me look like a beached fish flopping around on one of the nets and many other opportunities to experience laughter on our trip. But I don’t think I’ll easily forget the lesson in deep faith I learned that day.
Yes, faith can be brave, but deep faith is knowing you are held, loved, wanted, watched, and truly cared for by a loving God. Life will ask us to be brave and traverse obstacles on our own strength, knowledge, and wisdom. It will push us to follow the crowds to fit in, and even to step out in new business ventures, relationships, jobs, financial investments, time investments, and add responsibilities into our lives. The world tells us to be brave, but Jesus told us to have faith. The world tells us to dream big, but Jesus said to believe in Him. The world continues to say make your own path, but Jesus said to follow Him. Just remember what God’s Word tells us: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord”, Isaiah 55:8. “There is a way which seems right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death”, Proverbs 14:12. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”, Jeremiah 29:11. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”, John 16:33. My faith is in Jesus and His love and faith, which is unfailing bravery, wisdom, and strength, and never fails, but endures forever. It’s much more peaceful to rely on faith than bravery!
