My friend Jim Long said that when they began unloading the men onto the beach at Normandy, that the ship was too far out.  They were in water over their heads.  And many of the men couldn't swim.  Their equipment was so heavy that they sank to the bottom and many of them drowned without ever reaching shore.  He said he took his equipment off and discarded it and swam to the beach.  There were plenty of packs and guns lying around where men had died.  He picked up what he needed and kept moving.

I can't even imagine doing something like that.  They were so brave.  Where does that kind of courage come from.  Many survivors say it wasn't courage, but fear.  But they did it anyway.

The greatest fear I have ever faced was when a tornado was coming and I was trying to get my children to safety.  But I was not terrified because I knew where safety was, and how to get there.  I am sure you have faced fear as well.  I hate being afraid.  The thing I fear is usually not nearly as bad as the fear itself.  Fear is a terrible emotion.

When I was young I was terrified of water.  I was afraid of drowning.  I'm not afraid anymore.  I was afraid of heights.  I still am.  I feel like I am being sucked over the edge of something.  Visiting the Grand Canyon was especially uncomfortable for me.   I had to back up.  My children thought I was nuts.  I have never been afraid of speaking before the public.  But they say most people are.

Who knows where fear comes from.  I used  to be afraid of dying.  I'm not fearful anymore.  I have reached the point in my life that whatever God wants, I want.  It is a great relief.

Psalms 27:1  "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Psalms 23:4  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me."