Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges.  This week’s topic is part of our series called God Is… where we’re trying to learn about God’s character and nature through some key stories in the Bible.

Our daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus, even if you don’t have a lot of time. We have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. Every Monday we introduce the week’s idea. Every Tuesday we study it in the Bible. Every Wednesday we see how that challenges and transforms our thinking on the topic. Thursdays we try to apply and live it out. Friday is a day for prayer and reflection before we take a rest on Saturday, and Sundays we meet together with others in community.

Jim Carrey, the comedian, once gave a commencement address, and said he avoided pursuing a career in comedy because his father didn’t believe it would work out. He became an accountant instead (no joke) but got laid off. He said, “So many of us choose our paths out of fear disguised as practicality…I learned many great lessons from my father. Not the least of which is that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance at doing what you love.

Good advice in hindsight, but many of us learned these lessons too late.  We back away from doing the right thing out of fear or defeatism, long before later realizing our mistake.  For Jim Carrey, it obviously worked out – he still had time to build a great career in comedy!

What about you?  When have you chickened out?  When have you avoided doing something risky, out of fear?  When have you been pessimistic to the point that you missed an opportunity?

Question: Share a story of when you were afraid to try something new.  When did you realize your mistake, and did you get a second chance?

Remember:

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