An army friend of mine told me that that the only time he’d ever been pushed to the very threshold of fear was when he had to make his first parachute jump. As the aircraft approached the drop zone everyone stood up, clipped their parachute release to the static line, checked the equipment of the man in front and waited while the rear door of the aircraft opened. As they stood there, tense and afraid, their instructor then said to them, ‘forget what you feel, trust what you’ve been taught.’ He did, and then stepped out into nothingness where his fear turned to absolute exhilaration as he floated to earth.
And that’s what faith is; not listening to our fears but trusting what Jesus taught us; stepping out beyond our security and finding that Jesus is there with us, just as he always was and always will be.