So if you were here with us last week, we started a new series, the first series of the spring semester.

And we started this series because of the reality that there's something that marks our lives.

I mean, there can be, we said this last week, there can be things in our lives that we know we're called to do, things that we're know we're made for, made to do.

There can even be things that we want to do in our lives that we don't do for one reason and the reason is because of fear.

And that, yes, fear has the ability to cause us to fight, cause us to flee, also causes us to freeze.

And so so many times we can be presented with, again, something we want and just not do that thing we want because we're paralyzed by fear.

And so we talked about the quote from Franklin, Delano Roosevelt, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, which is interesting because I've been reflecting on that for the last couple weeks, you know, getting ready for this.

And I'm like, yes, that's true, it's also not true. Right, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Sometimes that's true. And I think about when it's true, like when I was a kid and we had to go up and change into our pajamas, like children do.

So I would run up the upstairs where no one was into the dark and I raced with my older brother and it was one of those things where we were terrified to run up into our bedrooms.

The place would be spending the entire night, by the way. And change quick and then race down because we just wanted to, we were afraid of the dark.

I don't know anyone has ever died because of the dark, but we were so terrified. And again, Franklin Delano could have used FDR at that point.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself at the same time. There are things in this world that can kill us.

In fact, if you kind of look around, it's like we live in a world that's trying to actively kill us.

That no one of us gets out of your life. The world is going to kill us. So in some ways like, yeah, FDR, you're kind of right.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. At the same time, we live in a dangerous world. And that's actually why we have fear.

That's the reason we have fear. Fear. The reason why God gave us the gift of fear is because fear exists to keep us alive in a dangerous world.

That's where fear comes from. So there's two sources of fear. The first is biological. So in our brains, there's this thing called the amygdala.

This little kind of like almond-sized thing, the back base of our brains. And this generates this fear response. Whenever we see something that could cause us danger or could cause us discomfort,

our amygdala kicks in and says basically, hey, there's a dark alley. Don't go down the alley. I'm standing on a cliff, back away from the cliff.

There's a saber-toothed tiger. Run away. And why is there a saber-toothed tiger there in 21st century America?

But here's the point. Fear has been working for you. Actually, fear has been a gift for you and for me, our entire lives. Fear is what has enabled you and me to be alive to this moment.

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