A few days have passed and I still have a hard time believing the Indianapolis Colts fired head coach, Frank Reich, and hired Jeff Saturday as their interim head coach.

Full disclosure, I have rooted for the Colts since the Peyton Manning/Tony Dungy days and thought the team could win a Super Bowl this year. I’m a big fan of Frank Reich and was pulling hard for him to succeed in Indianapolis.

Unfortunately, the end of last season and the beginning of this season have been highly disappointing as the team underperformed and the Colts owner, Jim Irsay, decided the team needed to make a change.

Irsay determined the move to make was bringing in former Colts Super Bowl-winning center and current ESPN analyst, Jeff Saturday. Going from a TV earpiece to a sideline headset, Saturday has no head coaching experience in college or pros.

Although I’m a big fan of Jeff Saturday, I can’t wrap my mind around how this unprecedented and shocking situation is going to work out. But, if Saturday turns out to be the right fit and the Colts turn things around, Hollywood better be ready to put this story on the big screen!

What jumps out to me about this hiring is the willingness for Irsay to do something out of the box…and the fact that Saturday willingly said yes. Neither one of them allowed fear to get in the way, as their press conferences indicated this week.

Owner, Jim Irsay, explained, “Now, I am glad he doesn’t have any NFL experience. I’m glad he hasn’t learned the fear that’s in this league because it’s tough for all of our coaches. They’re afraid. They go to analytics and it gets difficult. I mean, he doesn’t have all that. He doesn’t have that fear and there was no other candidate.”

That’s an interesting point because I’m sure most NFL head coaches are coaching from a place of fear. They have fear about calling the right plays, fear of losing the game, fear of losing their job, and fear of letting their team down.

Saturday, on the other hand, doesn’t have those same fears and isn’t fearful about his lack of experience as a head coach and is confidently coming in with a unique perspective.

Jeff Saturday defended himself by declaring, “Here’s the deal, I’m completely comfortable in who I am as a man. I know I can lead men. I know I know the game of football and I’m passionate about it, I have no fear about – are you as qualified as somebody else?”

There’s no question that fear could have prevented Saturday from becoming the interim head coach, but instead, Irsay and Saturday didn’t let fear get in the way and the lack of fear appears to be an advantage and an asset.

Irsay could have feared criticism and not made this move.

Saturday could have feared rejection from the Colts’ locker room and not accepted the job.

Irsay could have feared making a bad decision and chosen a safer route instead of doing something very different than most owners.

Saturday could have feared failure and feared he didn’t have enough experience to qualify for the role.

We’ll see how this situation works out and it’s going to be fascinating to follow, but I do think we can use this story as an opportunity to be encouraged today to overcome our own fears.

We have to learn not to let fear hold us back from taking bold steps of faith in life and prevent us from being willing to step out of the box.

As followers of Jesus, we want to operate with His wisdom and desire to have Him lead and guide us on the path we should take.

Oftentimes, we find ourselves in situations where we know God is calling us to step out of the boat and trust Him, but we allow fear to prevent us from moving forward.

We fear rejection and criticism from the world, we fear failure, we fear we aren’t qualified enough, and we fear we’ll let people down. Sometimes, we fear we’ll make the wrong decision so we make no decision at all or we always choose the safe route instead of the right one.

Today, let’s no longer live in fear, but rather confidently do what God asks us to do and follow Him wherever He wants us to go. As we overcome fear with His help and strength by placing our faith in Jesus, let’s cling to these verses…and go for it!

“I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4; NLT).

“‘Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation]’” (Isaiah 41:10; AMP).

“The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6; ESV).

I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help me not to live in fear. I know I can trust You, I know You are with me, and I know You are guiding me. Please take away the fear that is holding me back from moving forward in life and show me the next move I need to make. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.