Be Strong and Courageous 

(Joshua 1) 

Risk averse? The turtle gets nowhere until it sticks its neck out.

It amazes me how risk averse our pampered and goofy society is. Let's review the news: We sue if the coffee we just bought at the drive-through window spills in our lap and is hot. We sue the manufacturer if our little darlin' gets shot by a gun while trying to buy drugs from the local street corner entrepreneur. We sue if we fell off of the neighbor's ladder while breaking into the second story of our neighbor's house.

The manufacturer of bats for Little League baseball has been under pressure to make bats that won't cause the baseball to fly with quite so much velocity because it has come to the attention of some of the mommies that if their little darlin' doesn't happen to get his glove up to catch the ball - it might hit him.

We can't play playground games at school that were once enjoyed, because someone might fall down, or get hit, or fall off, or walk in front of...and get hurt.

We shouldn't play sports because someone might get hurt, or lose and feel bad. We can't actually guard our border because someone just might get shot or killed (and if that happens we put our law enforcers in a Mexican jail). We can't have an automobile without it having all sorts of lights, bells, stickers, buzzers and computer voices telling us to close the door, buckle the seatbelt and be aware that vehicles seen in the right rear view mirror are closer than they appear!

It has been said that 'the problem with idiot-proofing our world is that there will always be one more idiot than you counted on.'

Undoubtedly because of the era and way in which I was raised, I want to yell past the hysteria of all the soccer moms, "Get out there kid! Suck it up! No pain no gain! Go for the gold! Give it all you got! You don't know what you can do until you try! Dry it up and try it again! When the going gets tough, the tough get going! Be a hero not a zero! You CAN do it and NO, you can NOT QUIT!"

No, I'm not out of platitudes...I figure you get the idea. That is my interpretation of God's instruction to Joshua. What was the last thing YOU heard from God?!