Laugh in the Face of Danger

"Call me Ishmael."

Those fateful three words started what is probably one of my least favorite books I have read so far in high school. Moby Dick. Sure, it's one of the classics, but I'm not completely sure that isn't just because it's one of the longest books in history. (OK, not really, but it felt that way) It starts with maybe ten or twenty chapters of plot and you're thinking "okay, this isn't so bad." But then there's about 110  chapters of  whales. Just whales. The classification of whales, the color of whales, on and on: you get the point. Just in case you don't, THREE WHOLE CHAPTERS ON WHALE ART. Then the last few chapters are plot again, but you're so still so hung up on the whale art that you just want to finish the book. So all in all, I did not like it.

BUT,

There is one quote that I liked when I read it, and I've been in love with it since. It's said by the second mate on the Pequod, Stubbs. Ahab, the captain, has just gone on about how much he wants to kill the White Whale, and how he's going to no matter what. So basically, Stubbs has just heard that he's probably going to die trying to kill an un-killable whale to satisfy his crazy captain's thirst for revenge. And this is what he says:

"I know not all that might be coming, but be it what it may, I'll go to it laughing."

What? He's most likely about to die. He's most likely never gonna see land again, or get to see his family again. And that's what he says.

"I know not all that might be coming, but be it what it may, I'll go to it laughing."

It struck me the first time I read it, and it's struck me every time since then.

"I know not all that might be coming, but be it what it may, I'll go to it laughing."

Gosh. I don't even know where to start.

We don't know what's coming. We don't know what tomorrow might bring, heck, we don't know what the next minute might bring. We have no idea. We may have hopes, we may have dreams, we may have plans, but we still have no idea what will happen.

Still, we can look forward to the future. We don't need to be afraid. Now, that doesn't mean we aren't. I know that personally, I have a hard time with this. I swear every family member and teacher has asked me in the last few months what I'm going to do, what college I'm going to go to, or something like that. And while it doesn't stress me out too much because I have a general idea, it's still kinda stressful to think about being in a strange place where I know no one and where I'm far from everything and everyone that I know. A bit scary. Okay, really scary. Even so, I'm excited. Because honestly, the prospect of the unknown excites me as much as it scares me. So I like the idea of laughing in the face of the future. Because it's a lot more fun than being scared and cowering away from the unknown.

It reminds me of the Lion King. Remember this?

This part is great because as soon as he says this the hyenas come out and in your head (or maybe out loud) you're screaming "run!" And he does, but up until that moment, you're impressed by Simba's attitude of fearlessness. This is the face we put on. We try to act like we aren't afraid of what's coming, but when it reveals its ugly face, we are scared to death. We run away from it, trying to get out of its iron grip.

But what happened in the end? Simba's dad, Mufasa, showed up and saved the day. He rescued his son from danger. If that isn't a great picture of how God rescues us daily, then I don't know what is.

So here's my two-part challenge to you:

Laugh. Take time today and everyday to laugh. Because if you don't life gets boring and dull and when that happens, it's hard to break out of a routine and do something exciting.Whenever you find yourself standing on a cliff with only the option to jump, trust in one of two things: either the Lord will catch you or He's gonna teach you to fly. Then, with that knowledge, take a second to laugh in the face of fear and danger and jump.

"I know not all that might be coming, but be it what it may, I'll go to it laughing."

Sidney

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