Fear Is Part of the Journey, But Not the Final Chapter

Series: What Book Changed the Way You See the World?

How many of you remember the Weekly Reader we received in school? It introduced us to new books and gave us the opportunity to order them. I looked forward to those little newspapers and the adventures they promised.

Growing up just after World War II, many of the books I read were stories of courage and heroism. They told of brave men who stood their ground in battle. In high school, I was assigned The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. I’ll admit, it wasn’t as enjoyable as some of the earlier books I had read, but over the years it became one of the books that shaped the way I see life.

The story centers on a young Union soldier named Henry Fleming. When the battle became overwhelming, fear got the best of him, and he ran.

For the first time, I encountered a hero who wasn’t perfect.

Or was it really the first time?

In Sunday school I learned about great heroes of faith—Moses, Elijah, and Peter. What I don’t remember hearing very often was that Moses fled Egypt, Elijah hid in a cave, and Peter denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed. Even the people God used most knew what it was like to be afraid.

Looking back, The Red Badge of Courage slowly changed how I understood courage. Fear isn’t limited to battlefields. It appears in everyday life. Fear can tempt us to run from difficult conversations, hide behind addictions, avoid painful decisions, or simply refuse to face what lies before us.

If we’re honest, we all have fears.

I do.

My mother did too. Whenever a severe storm approached, she would wake us in the middle of the night and make us get dressed. Her reasoning was simple: “If we’re blown away, we’ll at least be fully clothed.” It seemed unusual when I was a child. Years later I learned why. As a little girl, she had lived through a tornado and remembered hiding beneath her schoolhouse while the storm raged overhead. Her fear had a story.

So does mine.

Looking back, I can see there were times I made decisions because of fear. I didn’t recognize it then, but I do now.

The good news is this: fear may be part of the journey, but it doesn’t have to write the final chapter.

That may be one of the greatest lessons The Red Badge of Courage ever taught me. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is choosing not to let fear have the final word.

What fears have you had to face? What helped you move forward?