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Embracing The Adventurous Way

Posted Jan 12 2010 by Jonathan Brink in , with 6 Comments

What are you running from that is meant to transform you?

About eight years ago I made the intentional decision to face my fears.  My mentor told me a very important story of a man who had been running from his fear for ages. My mentor had worked with this man for a while and finally told him to reimagine the fear once again, to call it up.  When the man did, his face became flush with the same emotions that had troubled him for so long.  The fear always took the form of a lion and it had repeatedly chased him.  Each time it did, he would run away, fall just as the lion was about to pounce and then wake up from fright.  As the lion once again chased him, my mentor asked him to finally turn and around and ask the lion his name.  Deeply afraid the man finally turned to the lion and asked, “What is your name?”

What happens next changed my life.  The lion says to him, “I am your courage.  Why are your running from me?”

I’ve often wondered how many times I’ve run from my courage, thinking it was something that would kill me.  My mentor helped me begin the process of embracing my courage to face my fears and rediscover their purpose in my life.  When I run from something I’m often missing out on its intended purpose.

I made a decision the day I heard that story.  I decided I was going to face my fear.  I was going to confront the lions in my life in order to discover their purpose.  And what surprised me is how many were actually paper tigers, invention of my own imagination.  My fears had ruled my life in ways that were destructive and even oppressive.  Others were deeply important messages God was trying to communicate to me.  Yet it was not until I faced them that I could remove them or transform their meaning.

The Adventurous Way is about facing our fears in order to discover their purpose.  The call to follow Jesus is essentially the adventurous path to life.  Jesus confronted the all encompassing fear of death and transformed our understanding of it.  But it was not possible until he chose to face it, address it and transform its meaning.

I invite you to join me in this adventurous way. What are you afraid of that is inviting you to turn and rediscover its meaning and purpose?

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About the Author

Jonathan BrinkI am an business development and communications consultant. I am also the senior editor and publisher for Civitas Press. I recently published, Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole, New Christianity. (Civitas, 2011)View all posts by Jonathan Brink →

  • http://www.nextreformation.com/ len

    Two posts in a row that speak to me.. I'll have to stop by more often :)

  • http://www.nextreformation.com/ len

    Two posts in a row that speak to me.. I'll have to stop by more often :)

  • len

    btw, check out this great image on Robbymacs blog..
    http://www.robbymac.org/

  • len

    btw, check out this great image on Robbymacs blog..
    http://www.robbymac.org/

  • Perezoso

    Interesting, but I am not sure that courage, or the lack thereof, should be considered the central problem facing christians. My experience with congregations–and clergy—has convinced me that the real problem–at least for adults–is hypocrisy, however quaint that complaint may be.

    Christians are asked to be decent citizens, I believe (one reason I have a problem with calvinist “sola-fide,” tho' not thereby necessarily approving of roman catholics)–brought out in the Sermon on the Mount and other places in the NT. Unfortunately most humans can't follow that advice, on a day to day level. Violence, lust, cheating, lying,etc. are ordinary reality for most Americans. That's a shame.

    You can't be Larry Flynt during the week, and then attend church and be forgiven. A few 20s won't suffice. Yet many if not most citizens attending church seem to be Larry Flynt christians.

    (Like this fool, Byronius, a businessman from Sac-town (http://journals.democraticunderground.com/byronius) , who pretends to be some liberal radical during the week, and yet is involved in Sac-area churches, notwithstanding his foul mouth, wrath, and phony politics. Even the DU liberals don't know that this person supported Schwarzenegger, and Mitt Romney. Hypocrisy with a capital H).

  • Perezoso

    Interesting, but I am not sure that courage, or the lack thereof, should be considered the central problem facing christians. My experience with congregations–and clergy—has convinced me that the real problem–at least for adults–is hypocrisy, however quaint that complaint may be.

    Christians are asked to be decent citizens, I believe (one reason I have a problem with calvinist “sola-fide,” tho' not thereby necessarily approving of roman catholics)–brought out in the Sermon on the Mount and other places in the NT. Unfortunately most humans can't follow that advice, on a day to day level. Violence, lust, cheating, lying,etc. are ordinary reality for most Americans. That's a shame.

    You can't be Larry Flynt during the week, and then attend church and be forgiven. A few 20s won't suffice. Yet many if not most citizens attending church seem to be Larry Flynt christians.

    (Like this fool, Byronius, a businessman from Sac-town (http://journals.democraticunderground.com/byronius) , who pretends to be some liberal radical during the week, and yet is involved in Sac-area churches, notwithstanding his foul mouth, wrath, and phony politics. Even the DU liberals don't know that this person supported Schwarzenegger, and Mitt Romney. Hypocrisy with a capital H).

Business development and communications for growing businesses.