Dad and I loved to go to movies and see them on the big screen. One of our favorite movies was 1917. We loved the panoramic scope, the intensity of just one day, the visceral experience of World War I. My dad asked an interesting question after watching that movie. He asked me, “Do you think movies make us more or less brave?”

He asked this, wondering if watching something requiring extreme courage as we sit in comfort, eating popcorn, seeing people endure a horrific event influences our level of bravery. Does knowing our inner armchair struggle will be over after about 2.5 hours unite us with more remarkable courage or make us more addicted to the comfort of knowing the outcome?

Most of the brave moments in my life require me not to know the outcome. I don’t know how the story will unfold, and I don’t know if I will be well prepared, if it will hurt more, or if something will worsen tomorrow. It is only brave choices moment by moment to take the next step that brings us to victory.

Covid has been brutal for event planning. Any history of how events have gone and how to expect they will go was thrown out the window. There is no armchair vantage point. I believe Dad would say that his journey of death was the same—bravery emerges in the going through, and each step is a revelation. Just like a movie, though, we who have faith know the outcome. We have faith in what we believe is the end of the story— “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all matter of things shall be well.”

“See, the Lord has given you the land, go and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” – Deuteronomy 1:21

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