Safety is not Guaranteed

In June I was in Nicaragua with my church for our annual support trip to Pastor Chemas church in Tipitapa, Nicaragua. The area had recently been experiencing some earthquakes. Now earthquakes are terrifying in normal circumstances, but in Nicaragua the fear of the populace is especially high due to a long and sordid history of damaging quakes. So as we prepared to go to Pastor Chemas church, and stayed in the capital city each night, the thought that perhaps there would be an earthquake was in the back of my mind. As I looked around at the team God had assembled for this trip, I got a little more nervous. Out of 20 people on the trip, 8 (maybe 9 actually) of us had relevant first responder training, or were nurses, or were in school to be nurses. In my mind this clearly meant God must be planning something. I thought the possibility that we were walking into an earthquake was pretty high. I considered sharing my thoughts with the group, but for a variety of reasons decided against it. The only thing I really changed before leaving was making sure to throw in an extra large first aid kit. You know…just in case.

Nicaraguan Red Cross volunteers pick through the rubble of a building destroyed by an earthquake. The 1972 disaster killed 5,000 people, left 250,000 homeless and destroyed 13 square kilometres of Managua’s city centre. Photo: ©IFRC

Nicaraguan Red Cross volunteers pick through the rubble of a building destroyed by an earthquake. The 1972 disaster killed 5,000 people, left 250,000 homeless and destroyed 13 square kilometres of Managua’s city centre. Photo: ©IFRC

We made it through most of the trip without incident, and I had mostly forgotten about my earthquake theory until our last night in Nicaragua. I was packing my camera and interview equipment up after some last minute interviews that night and since I bring a lot of stuff, and getting it all balanced out across my 3 bags proves to be tricky, involving packing, weighing, unpacking, transferring items back and forth and eventually getting everything in safely and without exceeding weight limits. I decided to pack outside in the porch area so the rest of the guys could get some sleep before our bus left for the airport at 4 a.m. I finished up about an hour after the last guy went in to bed for the night, and glad to be getting a few hours of sleep myself I reached for the door handle.

It was at this point that I realized that the room was locked.

Since the whole point of packing outside in the first place was an attempt to not keep everyone up, I was hesitant to knock loud enough to wake someone up to let me in. Fortunately there was a hammock strung up outside so I claimed it for the few short hours of sleep I would be getting that night. I made myself comfortable and got ready to drift off to sleep.

At some point the dogs started barking. All the dogs. Way too many dogs. It seemed like something had caused every dog in the neighborhood to simultaneously lose their minds. It was then that I remembered hearing a story or two about how animals will often act oddly right before an earthquake. I have to admit that I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the thought of experiencing an earthquake in the middle of the night, and for a few minutes my mind was anxiously working through all of the various possibilities.

Fortunately sleeping is one of my spiritual gifts, so I drifted off again shortly after realizing I was probably safer outside anyways. The bus took us away at 4, and the whole team returned to the U.S. without significant incident. No earthquake struck while we were on the ground in Nicaragua.

I tell you that story to tell you this; our safety as Christ followers is not guaranteed. We are not given a blank check of safety that we can whip out whenever we are doing something in the name of Christ. Don’t get me wrong, the Bible is full of awesome stories where God steps in at the last minute to unexpectedly save his people, sometimes from a den of lions, sometimes from fiery furnaces, and even from the wages of their sin. The Bible is also full of stories where God chose NOT to intervene. Stephen was killed standing up for his belief in Christ, Job lost his health and wealth and prosperity as a direct result of his faith, and don’t even get me started on Paul, aka Mr. Shipwreck. Safety is not guaranteed.

Not one person on our trip was unaware that an earthquake was a distinct possibility, but not one person backed out of the trip. There was plenty of time for each person to do so, and if they played it right, they probably could have backed out in a way that didn’t reveal their fear of an earthquake. There were fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, sisters and brothers on the trip, each of which could have chosen their own safety above the mission we were embarking on, each with people depending on them “back home”. No one was without a reason to stay behind, but no one chose to ignore what God was asking them to do. Each person confronted their fears, big or small, and got on that plane in June.

Fine Art America

On the surface, our trip could be considered an “average, run of the mill, unremarkable” short term mission trip, but what we really did that week in June was stand in the face of danger, afraid perhaps, but unrelenting in the mission God placed before us. We chose to knowingly step into a situation that was more risky than staying at home, trusting Christ to have his way with us. Not because we all had death wishes, but because we each felt that Christ was calling us to do this.

Have you felt a nudge from God towards something dangerous? Are you playing it safe at home when you think God is asking you to go somewhere or do something uncomfortable? If we could talk to Steven, Job, or Paul, would they tell us to play it safe? Would they express regret over their decision to follow God’s leading, even to the ends of the earth? Will you be filled with regret if you ignore God’s still, small voice calling you into the fray?