What Do I Know About Fear?

Workshop at Anolaima

When my good friends Felipe Preciado and Diana Cruz invited me to Colombia to give workshops on The Spacious Heart: Room for Spiritual Awakening, a book I had co-authored with my sister Sharon, I was skeptical. I wondered how a book written for a North American audience could have any relevance in a Latin American context. They were confident that the themes were indeed universal, and not just for one culture.

While I was skeptical about the themes relating, I was not skeptical about going to Colombia, one of the few Spanish-speaking countries I hadn’t yet visited. So plans were put into place and we left for Colombia on August 19 with workshops planned for two different localities. 

Our book deals with 11 areas in our society where we are “driven by culture” rather than being “drawn by God.” Of the 11 topics they chose four for me to present in 3 one-hour sessions: driven by legalism, driven by being in control, driven by anger, and driven by fear. 

By far the most pertinent topic was the one on fear. Colombia has lived with civil war for over a century. I was told of story after story of living in fear of both sides of the conflict. Just across the valley where I gave one of my workshops, guerrillas hid, often sneaking into the village either to pillage or to ask for supplies. If government officials caught them offering food, it was aiding and abetting the enemy. They were caught between a rock and a hard place.

Woman displaying picture of her 
disappeared son. 

A peace accord between the most notorious guerrilla group FARC and the government was reached in 2016. Unfortunately, there remain many unresolved issues. Estimates of over 200,000 disappeared during the decades-long conflict. Hundreds of thousands of individuals and families were displaced with many going into exile. I personally talked to a pastor who had several contingency plans to leave Colombia. He had been threatened because of his involvement with peace and justice work. He wanted to stay in Colombia, but had to keep his ear to the ground and be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. 

With these realities, what do I know about fear? Despite living abroad for several years in some areas where there was potential conflict, as well as living under several dictatorships, my life has been rather calm and secure. My fears, as well as those of my contemporaries here in the USA are relatively minor compared to my friends in Colombia.

Group discussion Anolaima

During the question and commentary time after one of my workshops, a man from
the back of the room stood up and said that the session on fear touched him deeply. He had been a guerrilla, and lived in constant fear that someone would seek revenge on him. He carried a gun with him wherever he went, including to my workshop in a Mennonite church. He was touched by the message of love: “perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4: 18). He vowed from then on to not let fear drive him, to trust in Jesus’ perfect love, and give up his gun. There was barely a dry eye in the audience when he sat down.

What do I know about fear? Maybe just enough to let God’s message of love reach those who need it no matter what the circumstance, culture or language. 

Our friends Felipe and Diana, organizers of our trip and workshops,
seeing us off at the airport.