How to be Brave

I'm struck today, as my fingers type out the words once more, writing them in my memory and not just on the screen, by the boldness of John the Baptist.

We think of him as the one who baptized Jesus, who preached in the wilderness by the river, who called Israel to repentance.  But did you remember he preached to Herod?

John said, right to the hardened king's face, You shouldn't be keeping company with your brother's wife.  In fact, you need to stop it right away.

Which means if John was preaching repentance to Herod, there was hope even for Herod.  And if there was hope for Herod?  There isn't anybody reading this right now who can't have hope.  It's there for the taking.

John's bold preaching cost him his freedom, and eventually his life.  But he didn't think about that when he preached, when he invited Herod into the kingdom of heaven.

He simply stayed true to the work God asked him to do, even though I'm sure he well knew it could cost him dearly.  He looked ahead to the reward of the faithful, and simply stayed true, through everything.  That's how we can be brave, too.