Courage

What do these three men have in common?

-The racing driver who set the world speed record at Daytona in 1914.

- The pilot who recorded the most aerial combat victories against the Germans in World War I.

- And the United States of America Secretary of War’s special adviser who survived a plane crash and twenty-two days on a raft in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

They all lived through dangerous circumstances, they all displayed courage and they were all the same man, Eddie Rickenbacker.

He was twelve when his father died and Eddie became the family’s breadwinner. He sold newspapers, eggs, and goat’s milk. He worked in factories, and eventually at a garage repairing automobiles. He left school to take a correspondence course in engineering. Rickenbacker went from garage mechanic to sales, finally becoming a racing driver in 1910. For six years, he was America’s top racing car driver; he established the world record of 134 miles per hour (216 kilometers) at Daytona Beach, Florida.

When WWI began he tried to enlist as an aviator, but was overage and under educated. However because of his fame as a driver, he was assigned to the post of driver to General John Pershing. This post offered him opportunities to meet many important officers, including John Mitchell, the combat air commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. While driving Mitchell, Rickenbacker convinced him to transfer him to flight school.

He excelled as a pilot; by the time the war was over he had survived 134 aerial battles, and shot down 26 German planes. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, eight Distinguished Services Crosses, and the French Legion of Honor. When asked about his courage he admitted that he had been afraid, but said, “Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared.”

Courage is never the absence of fear; it is doing what you are scared to do, and having the power to step out into new territory even though you are fearful. Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine-press to hide his activities from the Midianites, who would have likely stolen the fruit of his labor. Why?

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Judges 6:1-5 NASB

Gideon was visited by The Angel of The Lord who addressed him as a mighty warrior. Gideon certainly wasn’t acting like a mighty warrior! The angel told Gideon that he would fight (and conqueror) the entire Midianite army! 

Gideon was so doubtful that the angel had actually found the right man that he asked for a sign. (Judges 6:17-22) 

Gideon was an ordinary man from an ordinary family. He was weak enough to cause God to choose him, obedient enough to follow God’s call even amidst doubt and uncertainty.

God loves to do “The Gideon”. It is something that He has done throughout human history. “The Gideon” is when God takes weak, humble, sometimes fearful people and uses them to do wonderful things. He loves doing it! “The Gideon” has been repeated through the lives of millions of believers. Are you ready for God to do “The Gideon” in your life? 

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." Helen Keller