Fear.

Fear.  It is an ugly monster, a demonic spirit.  When it rears its vile head, it renders us frozen and speechless.   Like a parasite, it seeks to creep into our relationships and suck out the life.  It robs us of our ability to trust others, and to trust God.  It threatens to consume us.  Fear brings about many other nasty spirits such as greed, pride, selfishness, hatred.  In our fear we lash out at others, curse, and spew words of hate in an attempt to make ourselves appear fearless, but all the while the driving force behind those behaviors is fear itself.  The only way we feel safe is to make others fear us in an attempt to create a barrier between ourselves and others.  And thus the cycle of hate, greed, pride, and selfishness continues.

Fear shackles us and makes us believe that we cannot and should not evolve, change, or grow.  The shackles of fear become too heavy for us to bear, and we cannot stand up for what is right.  We are bound by that fear and cannot move forward.  Moving forward into the unknown and changing requires faith.  Faith and fear cannot co-exist.  In 2 Timothy 1:7 it says, "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

On a daily basis, I watch people miss out on what God has for them all because of fear.  Haiti is plagued by fear more so than I've experienced elsewhere.  Considering all that Haitians must endure, their fear is justifiable, but that does not mean is it right.  On the surface level it is fear of the dark, fear of the rain, fear of animals, fear of the ocean, and the list goes on.  But, on a deeper level that same fear affects everything that people do here.  In opportunities to stand up and fight for the oppressed, time and time again, I watch people run the other direction because of fear.  This week, I saw a glimmer of hope for this country.  A woman that works at our school refused to give in to doing something wrong despite suffering harassment and violent threats.  She stood up for what was right even though she was standing alone.  She made a hard choice that no one else would.  In a "Hollywood movie" world, everyone would realize she was right, congratulate her, and things would end happily ever after.  But this is real life.  Real life isn't like a movie.  Its ugly and messy and hard.  After she stood up for what was right, her co-workers, friends, and even her husband made fun of her and tried to convince her she was stupid.  They cursed at her.  Even as she was in tears, their own fear caused them to continue to lash out at her.

How can a country or group of people improve and advance if they cannot release themselves from the shackles of fear? It is frustrating, angering, and breaks my heart.  I want to make them open their eyes!  I want them to see that they are allowing themselves to be prisoners of fear.  I want them to experience God's love, compassion, and mercy so that they can show the same love, compassion, and mercy to others.  My hope and my prayer is that men and women will break off the chains that are binding them and choose to stand up for what is good and right.  I pray they allow perfect love to cast out fear, and live a life of freedom in Christ.