Big Bad Wolf

I’m always slow, never taller than 5’8 and can’t quite make scrambled eggs as good as I want.

Maybe you’re like me and sometimes your dreams have too much of reality in them.

Mine do.

I remember in one dream I ordered three whole cheesecakes, all for myself. I was dreaming, so I figured that I could handle all that heavenly goodness. Wrong. The next scene in the dream was me vomiting in a public toilet, while listening to the greatest hits of John Travolta, on the store’s PA system.

We can’t escape reality, even in our dreams. Yet, my short time in China has taught me something else about dreams.

Our fears are only as scary as our Dreams.

When I was fifteen, I remember losing sleep over how I was going to ask this particular girl out. I mean I dreamt about every possible scenario. The worst possibility I figured was that I’d ask her, she’d say no, but also announce it in the school paper that she had rejected me. I’d get so embarrassed that I’d drop out, get a pet crab and name him Sebastian. I’d never leave my room and get a bad case of Shingles. Eventually, I would become that guy who worked third shift at Walmart, but always requested to work in the women’s lingerie section. Crazy right?

Fear is subtle. It takes dreams and with the most covert action of force, blows them out of proportion.

Fear always finds a way to become the big bad wolf.

Take China for example. Since this past January, I toiled and worried about everything, China. Was this job going to be fun? How was my family going to be taken care of? Would I be able to find a good taco shop? (I have yet to see a SINGLE Hispanic here.)

I wrestled with the thought that maybe this move to a foreign country wasn’t a good idea because there were so many loose ends that needed to be tied up. There were tons of “what ifs” and honesty I wasn’t sure if we’d have money, on one salary, to eat every night!

But you know what?

Fear is just a over-glorified magnifying glass.

So many times, our daydreams create this monster that can’t be tackled. Yet, when we finally muster up the courage or are forced to face our fears, we end up saying, “oh that’s it?”

Yea, that’s it.

Fast forward to now and I’m in my petite chinese apartment, eating a snickers, impatiently waiting on my wife to arrive, so we can ball outta control at this flea market I found around the corner.

I haven’t died. I haven’t gotten the bird flu or been thrown into a Chinese prison because someone over heard me listening to some Lecrae. At restaurants, I order my food like a four-year old, with pointing and grunts, but I am making it and enjoying every moment!

Had I listened to my fears, I’d probably still be in Atlanta loving life, but only because I allowed my fear to control me.

That girl in high school did reject me. It hurt, but nowhere near the fictional fears that swam in my head for nearly three months.

Don’t let fear control you.

Big bad wolves only exist in fairly tales.

What are you fearful of right now?

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