Recently I took my son snow skiing. After we picked up our gear and took a quick lesson, we were ready to conquer the slopes. I learned two traits about fear from the ski trip. First, focusing on fear can lead to failure. Second, fear can keep me from trying.

My son left me for his friends. When I grew tired of the small hill, I rode up the ski lift to the bigger hill. Proudly slipping off of the ski lift without falling, I quickly realized that the hill was much steeper than it looked from the bottom. There were two options. Stay at the top until I froze to death. Or, plummet to my doom down the hill.

Just a little way down the hill I panicked. "You are going too fast," I told myself. The next thing I knew I was on the ground sliding further downhill than I had skied. Through a combination of standing and falling, standing and falling, getting passed by 10-year-olds on snow boards, followed with more standing and falling, I managed to make my way to the bottom.

"Where was that little hill?"

Instead of tucking tail to the bunny slopes, I went back up the hill and came down with similar results. Refusing to give up, I finally made it all the way down the slope without falling. Now that my confidence far exceeded my ability, there was nothing holding me back.

When I focused on falling, going too fast, or the panicked notion that "this could really hurt," I failed. When I was more afraid of what might happen than concentrating on what was happening, I fell. My fear also nearly kept me from trying. The fear of not being able to ski downhill without falling nearly kept me off of the slopes.

The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." Fear of what might happen if you fail will keep you from obeying what God has revealed. Fear of what might be can keep you from practicing diligence and resilience. Fear is not of God. William Carey said, "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." If fear is left unchecked, both great things to be done and great things to be received will be missed.