Our Security

I talked to my aunt yesterday, and before we hung up, she asked me if we were safe. She said she worries about that sometimes. Honestly, security is always a concern here.

I remembered then what one of my professors told our class last semester about what it was like to grow up in San Jose, Costa Rica. She is my age and grew up riding her bike in the street, walking to the corner store by herself, all the normal things kids do. It was safe to walk around at night and the neighbors visited back and forth. She didn't remember when it changed. When she and her husband built their first house, she remembered looking at all the bars on the windows and the heavy gate outside and thinking, "This is great. We are so safe." That's when she realized that if there were a fire at the front of the house, they would die.





This is the door going into our house. There are no exterior door knobs, and all the bolts can make two complete revolutions to drive the bolt further into the wall.



Same door, going out of the house




We do not live in fear, but we definitely live with a heightened sense of awareness, of surroundings, of people, of strange cars, or cars or motorcycles speeding, of anything out of the ordinary. It is prudent to live that way, as it would be in any big city in the world.

Before we left last summer, one of Tully's former patients gave us some books written about Psalm 91, God's promise to us of His protection. When we received them, we did not realize how important that chapter of Scripture would become to us on the mission field. We have claimed it numerous times about many situations and have prayed it for our family and over our kids, even as they slept at night. More than any lock or gate could ever be, God is our security.

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling--
even the LORD, who is my refuge--
then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels
concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your
foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."

I do know that there are many Christians who are the victims of crimes and other bad things. These verses, in fact, assure us that there will be times of trouble. There is also a flip side, however, in that we really have no idea how many times throughout our days and nights God saves us and/or protects us from something or someone. I praise Him for His tender care and protection and want to be no place else but under His wings and covered by His feathers, finding refuge.