I remember when I was a kid, I was fearless. I mean I was still scared by the boogieman, but I wasn't scared of doing things where there was a possibility I could get hurt. I was about five years old and I saw this massive bird hit this window. So, being the curious little sprite that I was, I went over to check it out. I saw it lying on the grass, and yes it was alive, and yes, I did pick it up. My thought process was: it is just a bird, it wouldn't hurt you. So I made my way to my house to show my mom what I had found. As I approached the steps, my mom spotted me and then proceeded to freak out. I was holding this massive hawk that was just sitting pleasantly in my hands, dazed and confused. I let him down in a field, and I watched him (or maybe it was a her) until it eventually flew away. Somewhere between there and now I learned about the concept of pain, which then produced fear. This is probably something that we have all gone through in our lives. Sometimes we are so scared of getting hurt or because we have been hurt, fear develops and then we know what to do and what not to do. I have been learning that this is not a totally healthy approach to life. I have been thinking about the fear of rejection, probably because we all deal with it at some point in our lives. Even as a Christian, we are scared to be rejected for what we believe in. If we are living a Christian life we are going to be against the flow. A verse that struck me when I read it this morning was from John 15:20. "Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." Pain is part of life. Same with rejection. When we get wrapped up in those fears we allow it to interfere with our walk with God and how God wants to use us. For example, last year God did amazing work in my life while I was at honeybee (who would have thought working at a farm manufacturing plant would be a place of learning). I learned that just because you state that you are a Christian, you are not necessarily going to be rejected. If I had listened to my fears, I would have lost the chance of allowing the people that I worked with to know me and for me to get to know them more. Sometimes though, people will disagree, we will feel rejected, but Christ has been through it too.