This week the specific fear I tackled was having a conversation I’d been avoiding. You know how it goes–you don’t want to bring it up when things are going good lest you ruin things, and you don’t want to bring it up when things are rocky, because it’ll just make them worse.
So, in light of there being NO good time, I just blurted it out. And it was fine. Really, it was good. An instance of anticipation being the fear-fueler. Not uncommon.
But that’s not the REAL fear lesson for this week. Nope. That lesson comes courtesy of my friend Jill Sauceman who needs a kidney. Talk about scary. She has lupus and it’s taken its toll. Now she needs to find a healthy, Type O donor. Which I am not.
BUT.
What if I were? What if I could save someone’s life by donating a kidney? Oh, I’ve heard stories before and given this sort of thing a passing thought, but this is the first time I’ve known someone who needed a kidney. And while I like to think I’d give Jill one of mine if we were a match–just thinking about going under the knife and giving up an organ pretty much defines fear for me.
So would I ever be willing to fight the fear of surgery and not having a spare kidney for, you know, ME? Under what conditions? Here’s how the thought process has gone:

• Would I give my husband a kidney? Yes.
• Would I give a family member a kidney? Almost certainly.
• Would I give a good friend a kidney? Ummm, probably.
• Would I give an acquaintance a kidney? Maybe? Depends?
• What if it was a child? Or a young mother?
• What if it was an alcoholic? Or someone likely to die of something else?

Basically, the questions comes down to a big, fat DEPENDS. But should saving someone’s life depend?
John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Well, that would be just exactly what Jesus did for all mankind. He goes on in that chapter to say that he now calls his followers “friends” rather than “servants” because we, his friends, know his business. And let’s see, his business is to love people enough to die for them.
Certainly enough to donate a kidney.
It’s a hard lesson. Most lessons worth really soaking in and living out are hard. And sometimes they leave you afraid.
If you have a minute, click on over to Jill’s Journey Facebook page. Even if you can’t donate a kidney, you can pray and I know she’d appreciate it.