There’s an old parable of a little boy running away from a witch who had turned herself into a cat. As the boy ran he kept glancing fearfully over his shoulder. The first time he looked back the cat was now the size of a calf. The next time it had grown as big as an elephant. Then he tripped and couldn’t run any further. Resolutely he got up and faced the pursuing horror. To his surprise it stopped. So he took a step toward it and it backed away. As he got closer to it it began to shrink. Finally it changed into a mouse and ran under the door of the witch’s cottage to be seen no more. The moral of the story is that when we stop running and face our fears they suddenly become less fearful; which is why Jesus constantly told his followers: ‘fear not, remember I am with you, right up to the end.’