First, I read an article about a courageous young man who acted.
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Then, on a weekend afternoon I saw two movies and I thought about courage to stay the course.
In each case there were strong similarities in that there was a huge price that needed to be paid for the courageous acts.
There was also a huge difference between the real life story of the young man and the two based on true events movies.
In the story of the young man he had to make a quick decision as to whether or not to act courageously or to turn his back and not get involved.
In November of 2014 Drae Bowles was a wide receiver on the University of Tennessee football team.
Bowles encountered a young woman on campus who claimed to have been raped by two of his teammates. He took the young woman to the hospital so she could get the help he needed.
A few hours later Bowles was allegedly punched by another teammate for helping the young woman. The next day he was allegedly threatened again by two more players including one who was supposedly involved in the alleged rape.
Bowles was allegedly even called a traitor by his coach for helping the young woman.
Bowles clearly paid a price for his courageous actions. He has transferred to another school and the details of this case have only come to light in the last couple of weeks.
Sometimes in these situations we find out who we are.
In this case, Drae Bowles needed to act quickly. That is not always the case.
The two movies I watched were Moneyball and The Big Short.
I will do my very best to not provide any spoilers as I highly recommend both of these movies.
Each of these movies required the main characters to courageously stick to their chosen course of action in spite of great ridicule, shaming, and their own doubt.
Both movies do an excellent job of helping you feel the tension of the main characters as they choose paths that go directly against any conventional wisdom, history, and expert testimony against their chosen paths.
Sometimes courage requires us to act quickly. It demands we make snap decisions without thinking of the consequences.
Other times, courage requires us to continually weigh the potential consequences of our actions over and over again. This ruminating creates doubt about the path we have chosen. The easy thing to do is to give in to what everyone else thinks or says.
In doing so, sometimes we let go of who we are.
I encourage and challenge you to be aware of your opportunities to be courageous this week.
Maybe it will happen quickly or maybe it will build over time.
Either way, may the courage be with you!
Joshua 1:9
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
Someone once said, “Do the right thing and suffer the consequences.” Sometimes the consequences are positive, sometimes they are negative but doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.