“Keep an eye on the person in front of you. It’s a sea of humanity out there. If we get separated on the street you’ll have difficulty finding the group again.”
The tour guide’s words sent a shiver across my skin. I glanced around the bus filled with middle school students and parents, my gaze stopping to rest on my sweet daughter’s face. What would happen if I lost her in our nation’s largest city? My stomach churned. Why were we even doing this? Maybe we should just go home.
Stepping off the bus in single file, I kept my eyes locked on her white jacket, barely glancing at the bright lights of Times Square. Every jostled elbow, every police siren and car horn sent a ripple of fear through me as we made our way to the restaurant. Whose crazy idea was it to take a class of Oregon small-town kids to Manhattan at night? After a few blocks, my heart rate slowed and I ventured a few glances upward at the buildings. The lights dazzled, the billboards moved. I spotted the theater where we’d be taking in a Broadway show the following evening. My spirits lifted. We wove through the crowd, the kids’s glowing faces making them easy to pick out in the crowd. They laughed and pointed at various signs. Was that a whole store devoted to M&Ms?
In my life-before-children I’d worked as a naturalist, leading visitors on nature walks in our local state park. One particular group stands out in my memory. About 50 students had crowded into the park lodge, their big eyes filled with trepidation. “Will we see bears? What if we’re attacked by mountain lions?” The kids were from a local day-camp that offered free services to migrant farm families. Most were children of Mexican immigrants and had little or no experience in the forest. They were sure they’d be eaten by wild animals. I had to swallow hard to keep from laughing.
Within twenty minutes of leaving the lodge, the kids were marveling at rough-skinned newts and giggling as they stepped over banana slugs. The forest wasn’t the terrifying place they’d imagined.
And New York City wasn’t teeming with pickpockets and muggers like I’d feared. We didn’t see any, anyway.
As we venture into the unknown, one thing we can trust is that God goes along. He doesn’t leave us to face our fears alone. As the familiar Psalm 23:4 says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
It’s easy to let our fears stop us from going places or trying new things. If I’d let my fear of cities stop me, I’d never have discovered the spectacle that is Times Square. If those kids had stayed in the lodge, they’d never have learned about the beauty of an Oregon forest. If Peter had listened to his fears, he’d never have stepped out onto the water.
God has blessings and adventures in store for us. Are you letting your fear of the unknown hold you back?
And out of curiosity, tell me which would you rather visit–Oregon forests or Times Square?
Times Square—especially if there’s a coffee shop where I could spend all day writing and people watching 🙂
It’s a toss up. New York is a great place to visit. So are Oregon forests. But I’ve been to NYC and have no desire to return. Oregon forests on the other hand never fail to take my breath away, especially the drive from Springfield to Bend–a ribbon of highway winding its way through a sea of dark green. Beautiful.