Go ahead, risk it! 

‘With Him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing.’ Psalm 27:1 MSG 

Ray Blankenship looked out of his window one morning to see a little girl being swept along in a rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his home. He knew that further downstream the ditch disappeared underneath the road and emptied into the main culvert. Nobody could survive that! He raced along the side of the ditch trying to get ahead of the child. Finally, he hurled himself into the water. When he surfaced he was able to grab her. The two tumbled head-over-heels, and then, within three feet of the culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something protruding from the bank – a tree limb! He clung to it desperately while the force of the water kept trying to tear him and the child away. Amazingly by the time the fire department arrived, Ray had pulled her to safety. As both were being treated for shock it was discovered just how much of a hero Ray was: Ray Blankenship couldn’t swim! Today, let your courage respond to the needs you see, not the fear you feel. Go ahead, take that risk. Reach out and meet that need. Walk through that door of opportunity. Step over your fear. God is just waiting for you to do what you can, then He’ll do for you what you can’t. But nothing happens until you make that first move! 

Prayer Point: Father, help me to know when You are calling me to do or say something. Teach me to know that however risky it looks, the safest thing I can do is to obey You. Thank You that You want to lead me into a spacious place. Help me not to allow fear to restrict me and make my world smaller. Help me to see the door of opportunity You are opening for me today and to walk through it, trusting You to be with me.  

Acknowledgements: Harvey, Paul, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, 1989.