If you have not seen Inside Out, by all means add it to you “must do” list this summer.  In part, it is a great story that gives a delightful interpretation of how out thought life and memories intertwine. The five top characters of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust are always working both together and independently of each other throughout the story.

Since I am starting a series on fear, I wanted to lift out a couple of themes from the movie. According to Pixar’s official Bio;”Fear’s main job is to protect Riley and keep her safe. He is constantly on the lookout for potential disasters and spends time evaluating the possible dangers, pitfalls and risk involved in Riley’s everyday activities. There are very few activities and events that Fear does not find to be dangerous and possibly fatal. By the way, Bill Hader of Saturday Night Live provided an excellent portrayal of fear.

We are all very familiar with fear, and while fear does serve to protect us it can also be a severe taskmaster, causing us to miss opportunities, to waste time.

So, what is fear?  It can be imagined bad outcomes, based on lessons learned in life, experience, and self-preservation.

Why is most fear bad? It saps energy, requires much effort, narrows your awareness, steals your dreams, sniffles your creativity, makes you fear afraid and unworthy and cantata you down.
What can a person do about fear? I am glad you asked.

Recently I conducted a survey of the six common fears that people face. I was excited to have over two hundred and thirty responses to this survey.

Over the next several blogs, I will share with you the Big Six and give you some proven, practical, biblically-based ways to manage fear in a more positive way.

I hope you will join me in this exciting adventure.