Courageous

   Cancer is ugly.  It afflicts people indiscriminately of rank or status or gender.  When people die from this nastiness, we resort to reporting the death as we would with any death -- the obituary notice.  And when the person who passes away has died of cancer, there is a common phrase that often gets included in the obituary.  In some form, this sentiment is expressed as such: "...after a courageous battle with cancer."  Why is that word "courageous" often associated with a person when facing cancer?
   None of us who have cancer ever wanted it.  I have a hard time thinking of myself as "courageous" when it comes to this struggle.  And what makes this malady more of a noble and courageous fight than anything else that people face?  When I think of someone being courageous, it more often involves situations where the hero of the story has the choice of accepting the challenge or not.  It includes pursuing relentlessly what is right in the face of everything being wrong.  It involves overcoming great odds and facing the giants along the way.  It mandates facing an enemy that is far more powerful than any one human being.  Dictionary.com defines courage as "the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear."
   If left to myself, I would not want to be courageous about anything.  When facing cancer, I do not feel as if "courageous" could be associated with me.  According to that definition, facing a situation without fear makes one courageous.  I admit there are times of fear.
   But then again, look at Joshua.  When called by God to take over the reins of leadership of Israel after Moses left, God commissioned him to "be strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:6), to "be strong and very courageous (Joshua 1:7), and to "(b)e strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:9).  Three times.  Only then was he ready to proceed.
   The courage any of us needs comes from God.  No matter what the giant is that we are facing, courage can be ours.  We can proceed in life courageously only when we recognize where our strength comes from and who the author of the ending of the story is.  The results of what we do is not for us to be concerned with.  The process of how we do things forms our character and therefore this is what we need to face. In that light, those of us who struggle can be labeled "courageous."
   So maybe the ramblings of this post have brought me full circle.  Maybe people who face cancer or ALS or old age or tragedy or anything else are courageous -- but only when facing these things fearlessly.  And that fearlessness is based on God and God alone.  OK...courageous -- maybe I am.  After all, it is only God that provides that sense of courage.  When I recognize that, I can be courageous but only because it is God who offers me fearlessness.