fear: a spiritual navigation

Jump on in.
Even with fear and trembling.

I think I have been learning about faith as long as I have lived in fear. Maybe longer. Whenever I am afraid, it is because I am also believing in something unseen, and like faith, it too requires an agile imagination. Both seem to have a way of growing bigger depending on how much attention we give them although one seems fed by truth and goodness while the other is fanned by worry and dreaded ‘what ifs.’

Sort of like jumping into the sea though your stomach is as jittery as the boat and you call on God out of sheer absolute desperation though you feel anything but spiritual. You feel fear, in fact. Everywhere. But somehow once your skin is submerged in water, that same fear melts into a fear of God and it grips you, holds you close, keeps you safe. Makes you new. And your fear of water, or of men, or of loneliness, or of different people, or of being disabled or forgotten, dissolves like ice cubes on a summer day. You hardly notice the change but you drink it up and thirst for more.

This too, like faith, is a gift. Coming from the One who knew before you did that to soothe your soul was his job, not yours. Yours was to jump.
-from the book

Jo Kadlecek’s masterful storytelling and image-rich life navigates us through fearful episodes and moments of joy. You will grapple honestly with questions of truth, faith, and spiritual freedom. Kadlecek’s God understands and calms fear-a God at work in the inner-city or poolside. Join Kadlecek in finding encouragement and hope as together you comb the shoreline of fear.