What Does Facing Your Fears Look Like?

Last weekend, fourteen men and I attended the Wild at Heart Expedtion in Colcord, Oklahoma. I believe each man got something from the Lord at this event, but there is one guy that I want to brag on just a little, because his story is one of perserverance through the face of adversity and fear.

Dewayne Fain had told me prior to his attending the Expedition that he believed that God had something for him there. He didn't know what it was, but he sensed that something huge was going to come out of him spending three and a half days with a motley group of guys seeking God.


On Friday, the camp grounds opened up their ropes course for the men to enjoy. Dewayne shared with me and several other men there that he was afraid of heights, and that he wanted to do some of the challenges and prove to himself that he could do it. So getting into his rigging, he prepared to face the first hurdle, the rock climbing wall.


With trembling hands Dewayne grabbed the first rock on the wall and pulled himself up. Looking for places to put his hands and his feet, he worked slowly to climb higher and higher. At about fifteen feet, he told us that he was going to have to come down, he could go no further. And working slowly, he came down without falling off of the wall. He was shaking, and told me and another guy that he was just about to have a panic attack up there and had to get down.

There were offers of encouragement from many men who were proud of Dewayne for making it as high as he had on the rock wall. Especially seeing as he was afraid of heights in the first place. It was the first hurdle in overcoming a fear and facing it down, like David facing down Goliath in the Old Testament. One of the men in our group encouraged Dewayne to go down the zipline with him, to which Dewayne said, "Tomorrow I'm going down that zipline!"

The next day as Dewayne and I talked early in the morning, he told me that he had had a dream the night before about him going down the zipline, and that he was going to do that for sure and conquer the fear of heights. Well the day went on, and at lunch when I asked him about it, he said something about he would do it if his shoes were dry, to which we all razzed him, so he left to go get his shoes on and go to the ropes course.

What transpired in the next hour and a half was like watching a great battle in history. Now we could not see what was going on in Dewayne's mind during this time that he was waiting to get his turn, but I can tell you from my own personal experiences of dealing with fears in my mind, that the biggest challenges came for him as he stood there listening to the lies of the enemy trying to keep him in bondage.

As his turn came, Dewayne was hooked onto the belay rope and he began his ascent to the zipline platform some forty-five feet in the air. To reach the platform, you must climb straight up a telephone pole, and there is little there to hold onto except for some metal rungs. At about twenty feet Dewayne's body began to shake violently, and he said, "Guys, I can't do this. I've got to come down." We encouraged him with shouts of, "You can do this!" but he began to climb down.

Terry Williams, one of our brothers that was going to zip down with Dewayne helped him to the ground then asked the worker if he could have a minute alone with Dewayne, and he began to speak to him. Now none of us could hear what Terry was saying, but after a couple of minutes, Dewayne shot up that pole like some kind of monkey. Men all around began to chant his name and hollar up shouts of support to him, it was really something awesome to see. Dewayne climbed that pole faster than anyone else I had seen do it on either day.

A few minutes later, Terry was beside him and they both zipped down to the ground, and before us stood a new and different man. A man who had faced down an enemy in an epic battle for his heart, and he walked away physically and mentally tired and exhausted, but he walked away leaving that fear behind him. What he knows now is that God is walking with him, and with his band of brothers cheering him on he can face any fear and defeat it. Way to go Dewayne, that's what facing your fears looks like!