A boy took a shortcut across a certain field after dark. He was leery about the trip because his mother had warned him not to try to cross that field in the darkness. But on this occasion he was so late for supper that he decided to ignore her advice and take the chance.

When the boy got about halfway across the field, the wind picked up, the leaf-barren trees started making creaking noises, and the boy became frightened. Instinctively, he accelerated his walking pace. That’s when he started hearing footsteps behind him.

He stopped in his tracks but was way too scared to turn around. He noticed, though, that when he stopped, the footsteps stopped. As he stood there, he thought, “I’m just being silly. There’s no one behind me. My mind is playing tricks on me.” Then he resumed walking. But as soon as he did, he heard the footsteps again. He sped up his walk, but the footsteps matched him. Then he broke into a full run, but so did they.

Finally, when the boy reached exhaustion, he quit running and turned around to meet his gruesome fate. To his surprise, there was no one there. As he stood there trying to figure out what was happening to him, he hit upon a new plan. He started up again with a brisk walk, but this time he kept his head turned around so that he could see behind him. Sure enough, when he started walking, the footsteps did too. As before, though, there was no one there.

The boy kept walking and looking back for several yards until suddenly the truth dawned upon him. The “footsteps” he was hearing were coming from his corduroy pants as the material rubbed back and forth between his legs as he moved. So, basically, it was corduroy that had him scared him to death.

There are many things in life that are genuinely scary, and I’m not for one second trying to minimize their threat. However, I think we can all agree that a lot of things that scare us amount to little more than corduroy once the dust settles. We Christians mustn’t forget that Jesus has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28:18-20) and to guide us as our good shepherd (Psalm 23; John 10:11-18). Those promises stand good for trips across darkened fields as well as all sorts of other situations. So, Christian, let me encourage you to take the fear that you are experiencing right now and turn it over to Jesus. When you do, you might just realize that what’s had you scared amounts to little more than corduroy.