Be Not Afraid

After this afternoon I can put one of the biggest fears that college graduates face behind me because...I was offered a job!!!! While I was home this week for Kimberly's graduation I had a job interview for a group home position with an agency called Youth for Change. I went to the interview Wednesday morning and felt completely comfortable with the staff I met and with the home. It's going to be a tough job as it will be working with level 12 behavioral girls. They called me today and offered me the job and I immediately accepted. I am so excited to be apart of these girls' lives even though I'm going to have to be tougher than I have ever been.
Something that they kept telling me was that I could not be afraid of these girls, because they will see right through me and know if I am afraid, and if I'm afraid not only will they eat me alive, but they won't trust me, because if I'm afraid, I'm not safe. For some reason I have been thinking about the fact that I'm not afraid of anything really, besides being alone in the dark that is. Otherwise, I am confident that any situation could happen and I could handle it. I looked into the house supervisor's eyes that day and honestly told her that I was not afraid. I can't really describe the feeling I had at that moment...it was something like confidence or security or something...it was not in myself, but in love, in God. I know that I can do this, that I can be a safe person these kids can count on, and from what I understand they cannot say that about a lot of people.
I was reading yesterday in Irresistible Revolution that we cannot be afraid. (what a coincidence hu?) Shane was talking about his trip to Iraq where he hung out with the people there who loved him like their own, even though his country was threatening their lives everyday with a war that they don't understand. I guess when he got back a lady walked up to him and told him that Jesus would be upset with him for putting his life on the line like that. How ridiculous does that sound, but how much do we really think that? We try to stay safe and tip toe our way through life and to the grave. Why? So we can die safely? (Claiborne, 225)
I remember a few years ago someone told me that I did not want to work in a group home because it was really hard and really rough and really messy. I say, who cares? Jesus led a hard, rough, messy, life! So bring it on! A 9-5 desk job sounds boring to me. What if we viewed life as an adventure and not as a deadline? What if we weren't afraid? What if we just loved people regardless of ourselves? Things would change.