Conquer Your Greatest Fear

What is the most afraid you have ever been? Maybe it was a movie, in the middle of the night, a traumatic life event, or attempting some crazy stunt.

There are two life events that top the list as my most scared moments. First, when I was 18, my dad came about as close as a person can come to death without dying. He had a major heart event which stopped the blood from pumping through his body. Once at the hospital, we were told to say our goodbyes because the doctors did not think he would make it through surgery. I told him I loved him, for what I thought could be the last time, while he was blue, his head was in ice, and convulsing on a gurney. It is hard to top the fear I felt at that moment. It has affected me my entire life.

The second was with our third-born Levi. Levi has Down syndrome. If you are not familiar with DS, it affects far more than their looks and mental capacity. Every cell of their body has Down syndrome. This affects their muscles, cavities, brain, skin, heart, and everything else. To this day Levi has a small throat and nasal system, and this makes breathing hard. A cold or a cough can turn into an emergency quickly.

When he was just a few weeks old he stopped breathing in the middle of the night. Allie knew this was a possibility and basically stayed up all night just making sure he was breathing, so by God's grace she caught it! She woke me up and we left for the hospital as I gave CPR to a limp infant. I was praying all the way to the hospital. Levi lived and has had several more similar events. But those moments when he was unable to breathe were terrifying.

We have all had really scary moments in our lives, and more are going to come. The question is, how can we learn to face them with courage? Tomorrow we turn to one of the most famous stories in the Bible: David and Goliath. We will learn how to discover courage, conquer our fear, and find victory.

We're saving a seat for you tomorrow morning!