John Wayne was not necessarily a business or personal role model. He was an actor and was paid as an actor and probably was never in an economic risk situation where real leadership is tested.

That said, he did have a quote that I like. The quote was “courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” I can hear him saying it now. “Wwweeell I‘ll tell you pilgrim.” Ha

That quote is actually pretty good life advice. There are things we are all scared of in our life. Hope, change, habits, failure, health to name a few. It is a funny thing when you look at something that you know in your spirit that you have to do and you know it scares you and you decide to do it anyway. It is exhilarating to face a fear and look it in the eye and overcome it. Let me say that again because it is important. It is a funny thing when you look at something that you know in your spirit that you have to do and you know it scares you and you decide to do it anyway.

Last year I had a friend who had a bad fall while cycling. Let me tell you, it scared me. It made me hyper aware of my surroundings when I cycle. I am talking about looking at every dip in the road and every pebble. To be honest with you, it still scares me to this very day. We have this guy that cycles with us and his name is Neil. Neil has had several crashes on the bike and cracked a couple of helmets. He still gets out there and shakes it on a bike. The other thing is that Neil is 80 years old and qualified for the US senior cycling Olympics last year. Can I hear an Amen?

This is important. I find that fear is contagious and it spreads like poison ivy in your life. It will start as a little hesitation, a little pull back and a small fear over some small area of your life. I find that once you allow it (yes, you have to allow it) and you decide to let that fear in your life, it is like a cancer that wants to spread to other areas of your life. It could be a fear that starts with something as simple as how you dress and if left unchecked and unchallenged, could end up causing you fear of how you parent your children. It is because fear spreads.

I am telling you that when you allow fear into your spirit, it is not satisfied with only one area of your life. It wants to grow and control more and more of your life. As I stated above, it is a powerfully exhilarating experience to look at a simple area of fear in your life and call it by name and say out loud, no more. When you face it down and root it out, I believe God watches you from heaven and says, “That’s what I’m talking about. KT