Do it Afraid

Two of my granddaughters learned to swim last summer from the neighborhood swim lessons. I will always remember little Calah as she stood on the side of the pool with her toes over the edge. She stood there for the longest time while her instructor in the pool attempted to talk her into jumping in. I was so sure Calah would never jump as I watched her cry a deep heart-breaking cry. But then she surprised us all and through crocodile tears she jumped! 'Do it Afraid' is the title of a teaching I heard a number of years ago. This mental picture of Calah describes perfectly our inner struggle with stepping out into the unknown area of faith.

Coffee on the Dock

I was on the dock last evening enjoying a quiet time deep in thought. The noise under the dock next door was unusually loud, so much so that I thought a child had fallen into the water. It turned out to be fish running for their lives, flying in the air to escape the jaws of something larger under the surface. It is amazing what we can do when we are fighting for something important, like survival. An inner strength and ability rises to the surface in the middle of a crisis. Just like those fish we can leap over a wall or fly into the air when we are threatened. What could we accomplish each day if we acted as if we had a large fish trying to eat us?