Summary: Courage. Some consider it the most admirable of human virtues. Earnest Hemingway describes it as grace under pressure. Merriam Webster defines it as mental or moral strength to venture, persevere and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. My favorite is Theodore Roosevelt's explanation. In his 1910 speech "Citizenship in a Republic," he declares: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.... Roosevelt's words, for me, embody the journey of faith, the adventure of faith, the joy of faith and the gut-wrenching challenge of faith. Because for so many of us, to accept the unconditional love of God and to work towards embodying God's love day in and day out is a supreme act of courage. At its heart, I believe that Psalm 139 paints a glorious picture of courageous faith. It paints the picture of what it means to dare greatly, to let God love us and to strive to love God, to step into the arena of faith and to wear the dust and sweat and blood that make for faithful Christian living.
