'Bon Courage!'

"Bon courage!" It's something the French say to each other fairly often. It is both encouraging and comforting, but there is no real equivalent in English. It means to 'take courage' (or literally 'good courage'). It is said to bolster someone as they go forward. It could even mean 'Go for it!' In any case, it has the word courage in it, and it is about courage! 

Now is a good time for courage--not just in France and Belgium and all of the Eurozone after the most recent Islamic terrorist violence, but also in the USA and elsewhere! Without courage, human beings don't do well. Without a purpose for which to live, humans can't have courage. They become mere survivors of what is perpetrated on them. This is not what human beings were created for. 

Jesus Christ reassured His followers with these words, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me." (John 14:1) In French: "Que votre coeur ne soit pas trouble; vous croyez en Dieu, croyez aussi en Moi." (Jean 14.1) Just after this He tells them, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (Jn. 14:6 ) He tells us who He is (verse 9) and how we can find the way out of all the dangerous nonsense of the world and into the truth, where we can fully experience true life which is not limited to this earth, but is eternal. He is helping us to put our confidence in Him so we can begin to understand what is really important.

I can just hear King David saying in Psalm 23, "The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need in Him." Put all your trust and confidence in HIM, and you will have the courage necessary to deal with anything that comes in this life.

Bon courage, mes amis!