Safety

It was a good weekend. I completed my first IMPACT retreat (aka got to hang out with a bunch of cool kids and learned about God), ran my first half marathon, and went to a Phil Wickham concert - or an awesome time of worship that Phil Wickham led. Those are the best kinds of concerts - the ones where you forget who's actually leading it and focus more on Who it's all ultimately about.

A theme that seemed to show up a couple of times over the weekend was that of safety.

What is safety? Is it financial security for you and your family? A top-notch security system that will protect your home from intruders? Is it wearing your seatbelt in the car, rinsing with flouride to protect your teeth from decay, or locking away your social security card and passport in a fireproof box? Is it a comfortable life in a suburban home where you can't see the homeless man living in a cardboard box over the fence, is it being warm in the winters and cool in the summers? Is it having friends, being happy, getting the job you've always wanted, or achieving some sort of leadership position?

Is being safe being comfortable?

I don't think so. At the IMPACT Retreat, in a closing prayer, one of the leaders prayed that we would leave from there, not safe, but in the center of God's will. Wowser. You mean that car accident that we might have gotten in on the way home could have been a part of God's plan? Physically, we might not always be safe. Just read 2 Corinthians 4 and Hebrews 11. Suffering? Death? Yeah, Christians face that. Every day Christians are imprisoned, suffer, and die for their faith in Jesus Christ. Were they always physically safe? Not by this worlds standards. But were they ever outside of God's perfect plan for their life? I don't believe so.

Phil Wickham sings a song about being safe in God's arms. Safe from discomfort? Safe from pain? Safe from loosing someone you love dearly? Probably not. He wrote the song while experiencing a terribly difficult time in his life. Was he safe from that hurt? Nope.

But we are so safe in an even greater way. We are safe from pain that has no meaning. We are safe from any danger or threat that isn't in God's plan. Every thing has a purpose. Every trial, heartache, uncertainty, problem, temptation, testing, and improbability has a purpose.

Lord, remind me that discomfort in this life cannot be remedied with alarms, bells, or whistles. I'm only safe in your arms.