How To Do Brave

Written By: Cathie Ostapchuk

There are many kinds of brave…the brave we want to be, the brave others are, the brave that comes in a moment of crisis, or the brave we only dream about because fear keeps us moving from dreaming to doing.

We admire brave people – and particularly brave women.  We admire them for stepping out when others stayed in, for speaking up when others stayed silent, and for risking much when others played it safe.

In January 2018, the Gather Women team had the privilege of hosting a one-day conference at Canada’s largest gathering of the church community called BreakforthOne in Edmonton.  Our theme for the day was She Is Brave.  We learned that our brave is not based on a series of unconnected chronos brave moments, but actually is ignited when we choose to step into a Kairos moment.  A Kairos moment is an indeterminate time when heaven intersects with earth and something irreversible and life-changing happens.  A Kairos moment was when Jesus showed up in our world – heaven meeting earth – and nothing was ever the same.

When we are ready to move from thinking brave to acting brave, and step into a moment prepared just for us, we have the opportunity to change the trajectory of history.  Think of Deborah, whose story is written in the book of Judges, Chapters 4 & 5. For years she was a prophetess and appointed judge, sitting under a tree, listening to the sad stories of her nation as they shared the frustrations of being bullied by their enemies.  One day she knew it was time to act, and in an instant, a Kairos moment – Deborah was transformed from a prophetess to a warrior.  Her Kairos moment led to Israel being defined as God’s people – a transformative change that could never be reversed.

Think of the Kairos moment when Jochebed, Moses’ mother, surrendered her most precious possession, her son, into the dangerous Nile River.  Everything changed in that moment because it created the possibility for the Hebrew people to be led out of their slavery in Egypt by Moses.   Think of Rahab the harlot who dropped her scarlet cord when Jericho was destroyed by Joshua and his armies, and therefore was saved with her family because they had been given an oath by Joshua and his men that they would bring her out safely.  Her Kairos moment when she dropped the scarlet cord changed everything and from her lineage Jesus was born.

Kairos moments are brave moments because they involve risk and faith in a time when others play it safe.  Brave moments are not brave for brave’s sake but point to a ‘hope against hope’ faith in a God who is able to do what He says He will do, and who is good.

There’s brave and there’s brave.  Are you ready to step into the kind of brave that displays not the faith you have in your self, but the faith you choose to have in a God who took the biggest risk in coming into your world?  His Kairos moment meant that you and I could live Kairos brave.  That, my friend, is how to do brave.