Do I have the courage of the woman in the crowd? (Matthew 9:21)

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 9:21 (TM) – larger reading Matthew 9:18-26

She was thinking to herself, "If I can just put a finger on his robe, I'll get well." Jesus turned - caught her at it. Then he reassured her: "Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you're well."

STORY:

Chuck Swindoll shares: There was a test conducted by a university where 10 students were placed in a room. 3 lines of varying length were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the longest line. But 9 of the students had been instructed beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second longest line. 1 student was the stooge. The usual reaction of the stooge was to put his hand up, look around, and realizing he was all alone, pull it back down. This happened 75% of the time, with students from grade school through high school. The researchers concluded that many would rather be president than be right. 

OBSERVATION:

I lived with this women from Matthew all day on Monday. This comment by Jesus wouldn’t allow me to walk away. “Courage, daughter…” Courage?!? Where pray tell do I show that kind of courage? Courage to do what needs to be done? Then I read Dr. Swindoll’s story and was wondering if I would have the conviction to raise my hand when no one else did?

We normally would choose to play it safe won’t we? Normally we go along with the crowd. Normally, out of fear of ridicule or ostracism our hand stays in our lap and our voices remain silent.

Where today need I have the courage of my conviction? I don’t have a quick answer. Not until at least I am confronted. Until then I will dance around the issue and settle for a “sound good” answer… until confronted with the need to speak up… to have courage… to act… to raise my hand… to stand apart…

Would I have the courage to push through the crowd? Would I? Just wondering…

PRAYER:

I think that I would Lord until the time is before me and then … who knows. Will I be too afraid to do or say what needs to be said?

QUOTE: by Eddie Rickenbacker:

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.