Our men’s group that I attend at the Church has been talking about the topic of courage for several weeks.  We have primarily focused our attention on some of the characters of the Old Testament.  Noah, Moses, Joshua, and David are all men who displayed great courage at specific points in their life. 

Honestly, most of what we have studied has been beyond our group of men.  We will never experience a worldwide flood, lead a nation out of slavery, take over a whole country, or rule as king.  Most of us are common laborers with day jobs or are retired from work. 

As a result, our attention must focus not on enormous feats of courage, rather on everyday courage.  We need to do simple things every day to demonstrate our trust in God to the world.  Most of our moments of bravery are not giant Goliath defeating scenes but little moments that draw upon the same reservoir of faith.  We need that same spirit to talk to a neighbor or coworker about Jesus and invite them to Church with us.  Courage can be doing the right thing at work when everyone else is bending the rules to make an extra dollar.  There is a certain fortitude required to lead a ministry at Church when you know it will draw criticism. 

Most people I know think of following God as this enormous decision followed by a couple of significant moments that the world will see.  The truth is that faith requires everyday courage to be the person, spouse, parent, child, and worker that God wants us to be.  It is not very glamourous, and it can be more demanding than we imagined.  Heroes of faith are not made in the big encounters that the people notice; they are made in the challenging work of the everyday.