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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a LegacyWelcome to Day 1333 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to WisdomOvercoming Being A Coward – Ask GrampsWisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1333 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday, we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy. As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’  Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible. No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.


We may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes, but will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable.  If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com (mailto:guthrie@wisdom-trek.com)


So the question for this week is:


“Hey Gramps, there are times when I feel like a coward. I don’t stand up for what I feel is important even when it comes to defending my faith. Do you have tips that can help me gain courage? 


Overcoming Being a CowardFor most people, they struggle with fear, self-doubt, and a lack of faith that God has everything under control. Even Joshua, who was Moses's understudy for nearly 40 years, needed God’s encouragement before taking over as the leader of the nation of Israel.  Joshua 1:6-9 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+1%3A6-9&version=NLT)  “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”


Let me tell you about another story. John Callender was a young officer under George Washington in the Revolutionary War. He failed miserably during the Battle of Bunker Hill and was dismissed from the army for behaving as a coward. On his papers, Gen. Washington wrote this: "Cowardice a crime, of all others the most injurious, and the last to be forgiven."


To his credit, Callender allowed his shame and embarrassment to move him to try to make up for what he had done and to redeem his good name. He didn't join the Redcoats. He didn't commit suicide. Instead, he re-enlisted as a private and behaved with such obvious courage at the Battle of Long Island that Washington revoked his earlier sentence and reinstated him as a captain.


The story of John Callender has a lesson in it for all of us. Nobody goes through life without episodes of weakness, failure, and humiliation. Those with the courage to begin again are people to be respected.It isn't easy, to be honest with oneself about failure and sin. The tendency is to be defensive and proud. Scripture holds that such a spirit hinders forgiveness in James 4:6-10...