No Fear

So many times I’ve lost my step, but never lost my way.
How Do You Know? Third Day


I may falter in my steps, but never beyond your reach.
Sometimes by Step Rich Mullins

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38-39



There’s nothing in life that offers me as much hope as the knowledge that nothing can take Jesus away from me. It is especially comforting to know that even my own failures and bumbles won’t do it. It isn’t as if I’m going to go through life without sin. I may choose it. I may fall into it or I may get pushed but one thing I know for sure, there has been and will be sin in my life. I know this because I am not Jesus. I dearly love him but unfortunately I am not yet like him.

The song I quoted from Third Day talks about finger pointing. The singer asks, “how do you know what I’m supposed to be doing?” Most of us can relate to that. Our detractors or even well meaning friends all want to tell us how to do things. There’s always someone around to tell us what we should have or could have done. How do they know? How do I know when I’m the one giving advice? I love the confidence in the line I quoted, “so many times I’ve lost my step but never lost my way.” I want to yell, “Me too!” Why? Because Jesus is the way. If I stay attached to him, attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, I may slip and even fall but I won’t get lost. My choices may not be the right ones, losing my step, but if I confess my sin or even just admit my mistake, all is well. That means I haven’t lost my way.

The line from Rich Mullins offers even more encouragement. Rich said, “I may falter.” Tricia says, I will falter. I just hope it isn’t too often. For Rich, for you and for me, we are never out of reach of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

There are tons books and songs about the love of God, the person of God and the promises of God. Pastors preach about God every week, some of them several times a week. What more do we really need to know? While I want to know anything and everything I can about each person of the Trinity, truth be told those verses from those two songs and from Romans, tell me all I need to know. I can never, ever be beyond God’s reach. As long as Jesus is my way I cannot be lost and nothing can take that away from me.

There have been times in life when I have felt that I’d lost my way. Looking back I can see that I chose to ignore the way. I wasn’t lost. I was ignorant. Have I faltered? Is this a day that ends in the letters d-a-y? Then yes, I’ve faltered. I falter because I doubt me or because I look to a human to do what only God can do and then become disappointed.

I’ve been lost and I have faltered. Thankfully, I’ve been found and I’ve never, ever been forsaken. No matter how far I may have tried to run the hand of God has been on me. We are not talking fingertips here. We’re talking big, strong, capable hands that hold on in the toughest of storms. Those hands hold on no matter how hard I may try to shake them.

There is another song I love by Tenth Avenue North. One line has God speaking to us and saying, “please don’t fight, these hands that are holding you.” I don’t know about you but I fight hardest when I feel most unworthy. My guiltiest moments are my squirmiest moments. I can be pretty squirmy but he hasn’t dropped me yet and I am very confident that he never will.