Almost every single day I get up and put on my set of two dog tags, one reason is because I am his son need to be reminded that he is with me, and not be afraid. I am his soldier / warrior, so one of my dog tags is from the Army. The other has engraved message which reads: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9. In the military you are sure to face some form of physical danger at some point in your service to the United States. This can also be said for firefighters, police officers, and other emergency personnel like paramedics, and doctors. It takes a real hero to stand up to injustice, and volunteer to help during troubled times. To have personal courage means facing fear, adversity, danger, difficulty, or uncertainty.
In my seven years of serving in the US Army I remembered countless stories of personal courage, and people who were conditioned to face the odds, no matter what the cost. The reason that I believe it was because the attitude to fight and win was well ingrained in their soul. Personal courage often meant admitting to your mistakes, adhering to a standard that others may not be following, even if it adversely costs you. I know that most regular people, or “civilians” as any veteran would say probably wont find themselves on the “front lines”. Still having the quality of personal courage, you have a role in leading, building, encouraging, inspiring, and motivating others in your team to work towards completing the mission. You can get involved daily by coaching, directing, mentoring, and supporting your team members. This empowers others to make good decisions.
Often in an organization there will be people who disagree with you, or might not share the same vision. Stay on the right path, and endure personal duress, even if taking that action isn’t popular with others. When you exercise personal courage, it allows the opportunity for others to provide critical feedback, and promotes their ideas about how the team can become more effective. We face challenges that conflicts with our own ethics, and morality. Jesus said in John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Personal courage gets hard, we have to face that thing we really don’t like. Scripture tells us in 2 Timothy 1: 7 “God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self control. Rely on his word daily to get you through it !
My personal testimony is that I survived many scary things, to include being deployed to Iraq, and believe me there were several times that I failed in some tasks-yet because I relentlessly refused to quit, and kept going I would find success. Here is an interesting quote: Franklin Roosevelt said this: courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that there is something else more important than fear. You have to start by showing up, and letting others see you present. I also love the term called "backbone" which also happens to be a tshirt design I made "Where is your Backbone ?" Backbone means having the strenth of character to see something difficult to the end-like Christ hauling a 400 pound cross up a 45% angle steep hill for 3/4 of a mile after being shredded to be nailed to & die on the cross for us. That is the ultimate example of Personal Courage !
