Fear

 Fear

By John W. Vander Velden

Sometimes fear is a good thing.  It helps us to avoid doing really stupid endeavors.  I remember after my first trip to the Grand Canyon, a news story reported that 13 people a year fall to their deaths at the park.  From my observance of those that visited the park, I was surprised it wasn’t thirteen a day.  One particular visitor jumped across a crevice to stand on a stone outcrop at the edge of the abyss.  It was not a wide space he leaped, but the surface he alighted tilted toward the multi-thousand foot drop.  Did I mention it had snowed?  Somehow fear did not play into that equation, or at least insufficient to prevent the crazy.

Yes, there is the good side to fear, but there is another as well.  For when fear stands in the way of growth…well then…  Another example:  Growing up, I did not have an opportunity to ride roller coasters.  Might seem strange but our family never had the time to go to amusement parks.  I had nearly attained the big five-o when we took Nick to Indiana Beach.  I stood in line to ride the Corn Husker Express.  Not because I thought I would enjoy being tossed in sixteen different directions simultaneously, but because the thought of hurtling down and around terrified me.  I observed that the park did not keep an ambulance in waiting.  I watched as the coaster went time and again without mishap.  Logic told me that the danger perceived, that fueled my fear, did not really exist.  I carried my fear as I climbed into the car and the forty-five seconds I bounced and jolted, twirled and twisted, down and up, and round and round.  I rode because I would not let fear prevent me from riding.

I have ridden other roller coasters since and enjoy the thrill…sorta.  But each of has faced times when fears…fears of the unknown…fears of failure…fears of embarrassment…or other fears have stood in the way of trying something new, and in doing so have missed many opportunities.  Fear can be a safety mechanism…it can also be a barrier.

My time in high school and college left me with a fear of public speaking.  The fact that not every one of my speeches in class went well certainly did not stop my knees from knocking.  But a time came when I was put on the spot, so to speak.  My pastor asked if I could cover for him.  I really didn’t have an out.  Until the moment Pastor John asked, I would have been content if I never had to stand and speak before a group again.  But I did, and I learned…that I could.  I do not say that I enjoy public speaking, but there have been times it was required.  Because I was asked…because I looked that fear straight in the eye, caught my breath, slowed my heart, hid my trembling knees…I can.  Another time I did not allow fear to prevent me from doing what I must.

For our lives are filled with the unknown and the unknown can be scary.  But as we look forward and see the fears that surround, it seems wise to categorize our dreads, to break them into the things meant to protect and the things that merely prevent…living.  If you understand your fear and you will not be imprisoned by it. 

I expect there will always be things that frighten me, but I will do my best not to be controlled by fear.  (598 Words)  9-18-2015