All my fears... Psalm 34:4 Dr. David A Baillie

I still remember it like it was yesterday and still tell the story from time to time when I am speaking somewhere.  

In 1990 I was in my third year as volleyball coach at Furman University.  In 1988 I had become the youngest Division I coach in the country (and one of the worst).  Now the third year was at hand.  I had an outstanding recruiting class and had been working hard at  becoming a good coach. 

The first day of practice was at hand and as I sat in my office the whole situation overwhelmed.  I realized I was not good enough, not prepared enough, not capable.  Fear gripped me, and I did not know what to do.  So I did something I have only done one other time in my life, I simply took a Bible, let it fall open, placed down my finger and saw what it said. 

My finger landed on Psalm 34:4, "I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and he delivered me from all my fears."

I remember praying in that office that day, "Lord, please take my fear away, and help me be able to do this thing. "

I don't think that just dropping a Bible down is the best way to study the word, and to know what God is saying to us.  But, I do believe that the God of the universe, can deliver us from any fear when we seek him.  God bigger than anything we may face.

By the way, we went out and started that season 0-4.  Yet, at the end we brought the first Southern Conference championship in school history to Furman.