Wayne A. Lamb in 100 Meditations on Hope, shares this story: “In the midst of a storm, a little bird was clinging to the limb of a tree, seemingly calm and unafraid. As the wind tore at the limbs of the tree, the bird continued to look the storm in the face, as if to say, ‘Shake me off; I sill have wings.’”
“Because of Christ’s resurrection, every Christian can look all experiences, even death, in the face and confidently say, ‘Shake me off; I still have wings. I’ll live anyway.” [--Wayne A. Lamb in 100 Meditations on Hope. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no.4].
The great British Baptist pastor Alexander McClaren reminds us, “Only he who can say, ‘The Lord is the strength of my life,’ can say, ‘Of whom shall I be afraid?’” [--Alexander McClaren, Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 3. Thomas a Kempis, the 14th century German Catholic monk, wrote in The Imitation of Christ, “He who loves God with all his heart dreads neither death, torment, judgment, nor hell, for perfect love opens a sure passage to God.” [--Thomas a Kempis in The Imitation of Christ. Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 3.].