Bravery versus fear

I've been thinking about bravery and fear a bit recently. From my viewpoint on myself I don't think I'm a very brave person. Other people's opinion seems to differ greatly from my own. I see the effort that I have to put in to get over myself and do things. Other people simply see what is done at the end of the effort.
It's made me consider the idea that bravery is not an absence of fear but simply a repeated overcoming of it.
I'm guessing that if fear was completely absent from my (or anyone's - for that matter) life, then I might be likely to do all manner of completely irrational, illogical or completely foolish things (My friends might be reading this, laughing and mumbling that I do them anyway). Fear perhaps is one of the foundations that common sense is based on. Fear keeps us from doing stupid things that would end life.
But if fear is not overcome at times it can keep us from doing things that end the fun in life. It can hold us back from achieving and experiencing so much.

So I'm guessing I shall battle with my personal fears and insecurities for the rest of my life. But as long as I never let them hold me back from who and what I should be then they could be the very indicators of the value of the things I do and achieve with my life.

Privilage

I've been thinking a bit recently about how incredible my church is and how much we have and how easy it is to take for granted.
We've just been to London. Not sightseeing, but being part of the sights for a day. Why? So that we can tell people about Jesus. We walked - on the road - through some of the busiest streets of London in the middle of a Saturday in summer. Right from Hyde Park Corner to Trafalgar Square. Singing, dancing, shouting, praying, mexican-waving. Following this extraordinary outburst of colour we took over Trafalgar Square for the whole afternoon. Dancing, shouting, talking, singing, laughing, drama-ing...all so that people could have a chance to hear about Jesus and all that he has done and can do for them.
To anyone who has never heard this it might seem like front-page news. Sadly to some in my church it has become almost routine and they have lost the excitement and joy that comes with throwing themselves wholeheartedly into something like that.
Dear God, may I never get that boring. Save me from my own passive nature that I may never take for granted the opportunities that you give us. Keep my heart from shutting out all that is new and hiding behind it's own insecurities. Keep me sensible to the amazing privilage that you have given us. To be those who can carry your name at these times in these places.

Love

I was listening to someone talking on Monday evening about love. He was saying that in his experience of building church and winning people for Jesus it was a case of just needing to love them and then God would do the rest. That if people had other agendas than simply loving people life started to get difficult and complicated.
Sounds profound I guess. But I think he's right.
It made me think back to the young women that I've helped to find their way in Jesus and to find their place within the church. I'm certainly not perfect and I'm sure I misunderstood them more times than I care to remember. I'm also sure that I loved them very much indeed - and still do. I'd do pretty much anything for all of them.
I still maintain that the fact that the majority of these young women is still in the church has an awful lot to do with God and not very much to do with me at all. God did a lot whilst I stood in the corner with a proverbial open mouth. I just loved them - very imperfectly.
Thank Goodness that the Grace of God is the element within our individual and corporate walks with Him that makes the difference.

Time

I guess there have been more blog posts about time than anyone could be bothered to count - certainly more than I'd care to imagine. I don't think I'm a deep enough thinker to come up with anything that no-one has thought of before. But sometimes it's the little things that get my attention rather than the unfathomable depths that some people manage to understand!
And I've been thinking today - where does the time that I waste go to?
I've said lots of times in my life that I want my time to count for Jesus. That I want Him to use me. But the time that I spend sightlessly admiring the view through my office window, or the time that I spend checking twitter for the 30th time....where does that go? Does it count for anything at all? Does it help me to "relax"? Is it simply "gone" and no-one knows where to. Is there actualy an angel in heaven who has the thankless task of going through the moments of my days and doing the equations between time well spent and time wasted. And what is time that has been wasted recorded as anyway? Is it like an appointment book with just blank spaces? What goes in there.
I don't have answers to this by the way......just questions. And some of those are rather vague!