Brave

We’ve all heard the stories.

The girl from Columbine who just before she was shot proudly stated that she was a Christian, knowing that it would lead to her death.

Or the men and women led by Martin Luther King who fought for Civil Rights, sitting on buses, protesting in the streets, staring into white faces intent on segregation yet still believing in an end to inequality.

And the suffragettes, those crazy women they teach about in English History, who wanted women to get a chance to vote, resulting in their imprisonment (and as I remember from my classes, getting dragged and run over by horses!).

Or the man who risks his life to save the [young boy/puppy/neighbour’s cat] stuck up a tree or floating down a river.

The people who don’t just sit and watch the six o’clock news, but desire to change the news.

To be the news.

To be brave.

I always look at these people and think, “How on earth do they do that?” But the truth I have discovered is that most of us would probably do the same thing if we were put in that situation.

I think of some of my American surrogate parents, a district attorney’s assistant and Dallas SWAT officer [for my 22^nd birthday, they dressed up as Batman & Batgirl – with their crime fighting skills in real life, the suits were very apt!]. They have these massively hectic lives often risking their lives to serve the community, serve at church in various ministries, and have gorgeous twins who they cart around to ballet, baseball and birthday parties.

I think they’re brave.

They would say “We just get on with it; this is our life”.

I think about the people on Pais who I have seen pioneer new nations. Starting out with tiny teams, little support, low finances but massive dreams of what a massive God can do.

I think they’re brave.

They would say “We are just doing what we think is the right thing”.

As I served with a local agency today, providing free bags of food and hygiene products to those in need, I had to get the people who attended to fill out forms detailing their financial status. Numerous times I saw families of 3, 4,5 surviving on well below the poverty line. One lady had no income and three children.

I think they’re brave.

They would say “We just do what we need to do”.

The truth is within all of us, there are two things:

The desire to be brave

and

The ability to be brave.

We have found that out this week.

On Tuesday within the space of 10 minutes we found out that my great-uncle in Jamaica had died [following a stroke that we believed on Sunday he was totally recovering from] and that Steve’s dad [Brian of navy-velvet-jacket-at-the-wedding fame] has a brain tumour.

Life is so fragile.

Life is so precious.

Life that can be so easily created in a scandalous bump in the dark, is so swiftly challenged, tested, illness-stricken, stressed…

…and so easily taken away.

But we are brave.

After the Ghana trip, we had (yet another) talk about children and said, “How would we do a trip like that with a child?”

The answer: “We would just cope.”

When faced with the challenges of life that could cause unraveling, we just have to do it.

So Brian waits at home, preparing for surgery on Monday October 18^th that will take out as much of the tumour as possible, and to find out whether it is cancerous or not.

Ironically the surgery is on the same day two of our dear friends find out whether the squiggling fetus inside of the wife has girly bits or boy bits.

Life is so sweet, so fragile.

So we,

ourselves and our families,

are called

To be strong.

To have a resilient hope.

To trust and hope in our Father God,

the creator of the world,

who we believe is our,

and everyone’s

Lord and Saviour.

Called to be

at this time:

Brave.

Why?

“We have to do what you we have to do.”

(Brian indicating where the tumour is)