• Faith and Fear for 2010

    Feb. 4, 2010
    “Faith and fear are different aspects of the same thing,” said Gina McWilliams. Wow. I’d never thought of it that way. Gina had. Gina lost her right leg below the knee in an automobile accident at age 25. Her left foot was severed and reattached. Since the accident, she had 37 different surgical procedures.

    “Faith and fear are different aspects of the same thing,” said Gina McWilliams.

    Wow. I’d never thought of it that way. Gina had. Gina lost her right leg below the knee in an automobile accident at age 25. Her left foot was severed and reattached. Since the accident, she had 37 different surgical procedures.

    As a single woman and an athlete, Gina knew fear. She says that fear can be an overwhelming companion. If she let fear take over, she would never leave her bed. She faced fear of falling when she got into her wheelchair, fear of falling when she got into her van, fear of not being able to find a handicapped spot, and on and on. Fear can be a constant companion.

    Fear is belief in a negative future. Fear is a belief in the unseen. It is belief in things that may or may not be realized.

    Gina rejected fear. She chose faith.

    Faith is belief in a positive future. Like fear, faith is belief in the unseen. It is belief in things that may or may not be realized.

    Fear and faith are different aspects of the same emotion. Fear is the negative aspect. Faith is the positive.

    Fear is looking down, worrying where you might fall. Faith is looking up, imagining where you might climb.

    Gina chose to climb. It’s been quite a climb. With prosthetics, she learned to walk again. She married and gave birth to two children. She continued her athletic career.

    Gina won a silver medal in wheelchair basketball at the 1999 Para Pan American Games, a gold medal in women’s sitting volleyball at the 2003 Para Pan American Games played in Argentina, a bronze medal in women’s sitting volleyball at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, and a silver medal in women’s sitting volleyball at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. Gina was the captain of the 2004 Team USA sitting volleyball team, which won first volleyball medal ever by a USA paralympic volleyball team (standing or sitting, men’s or women’s).

    Fear and faith. Faith and fear. They are different aspects of the same thing, unseen, and unrealized… until we believe in one or the other. Our belief can make either real.

    Our belief in the things we fear paralyzes us, making every obstacle insurmountable, bringing about the very things we most fear. With fear, we focus on the obstacle. With faith, we focus past the obstacle. Our faith pulls us over obstacles.

    This is a new year, full of promise and potential. The pages of 2010 have yet to be written. What you write in your book, depends on what you chose to believe.

    You can let the fear of a difficult economy hold you down or you can move forward in faith, letting faith lift you up. It’s your choice.

    Chose faith for 2010.



    Matt Michel is the CEO of the Service Roundtable, HVAC’s largest business alliance. The Service Roundtable helps give contractors faith in a positive future with highly effective business, sales, and marketing tools, peer-to-peer contractor support, and special discounts and rebates. For more of Matt’s writing, visit his blog at Comanche Marketing. To contact Matt about speaking for your organization, call toll free 877.262.3341, call him direct on his mobile at 214.995.8889, or email him at [email protected]. Connect with Matt on Facebook, Linked In, and Plaxo, become a Facebook Fan of the Service Roundtable and follow Matt’s Tweets on Twitter.