SCARY PLACES

Have you ever walked through a haunted house? I’m thinking of the kind that pops up in the month of October, close to Halloween. The kind with creaky floorboards crammed full of creepy monsters waiting for the chance to make you scream.

Donald Miller uses the analogy of walking through a haunted house to talk about what it takes to lead people through fear. “For whatever reason,” he says, “I sometimes feel like I need to be the guy out front. You know, the guy turning the corners first, feeling the walls, trying to find my way through the maze in the dark. But I assure you, I’m not feeling all that brave up there. I’m feeling terrified, to tell you the truth. . . .

“Leading is like that sometimes. You’ve got a gaggle of screaming, giggling friends behind you. . . . The trick,” he says, “to lead a group through a haunted house is knowing the scary stuff can’t actually kill you. The management won’t let them.

“It’s the same with all the scary stuff we have to deal with, all the fear of abandonment and loneliness and wounds we have to address. They aren’t allowed to kill us. Sure we might feel some fear and a lot of it. But in the end (even if it kills our earthly bodies), we don’t die. We just come through the other side with a knowledge we faced our fears, and we got out of that haunted house alive, our screaming and giggling friends in tow.”

I think Donald Miller is right. The only method for dealing with fear is to walk through it, not on our own, but with Christ leading the way. The next time you’re afraid, remember that Jesus is the safest way through the dark.

Lord, thank you for going first. Because of your courage and faithfulness, I am not afraid to follow you.