Home Safe, by Dana

Transportation is a constant in any culture. Here in Cochabamba, Bolivia we’ve seen some heart stopping options. Mind you, when we left Helena, Montana our 4 and 6 year olds were still in 5 point harness car seats. Ahh, I’d sigh a relief when where were both clipped in, a mommy achievement that ensured they’d stay put—safe for a few moments while I finished some last minute preparations; then we could head out for safe travel.

Here this morning, I saw an adult and what looked like a middleschooler both on a motorcycle, with 3 large encased instruments. Somewhat reasonable transportation, but much more often in Cochabamba we spot an under 3 year old child clutching the handlebars of a motorcycle, an adult driving, then a 4-6 year old on the back, arms around the driver (and no one wearing a helmet). After the first few times of eye bugging shock and awe, I now casually notice. It’s simply regular transportation. Lovingly, the dad is getting his kiddos to school (and our kids wear no seatbelts in taxis each day; there aren’t any).

Almost two years ago when we were just back to Montana after our look/see/decide trip to Bolivia, our friends and family asked us, “How safe is Bolivia?” We wondered too. All residences have high stone, brick, or concrete walls, topped with broken glass bottles in the cement to deter robbers and the like. Of course, some Wall Street Journal articles and photos showing heavily armed government militia taking over privately held companies hasn’t helped the safety image. We know thieves prowl the concha (market) and some areas of town are sketchy.

But what is safe? What’s an image and what is an illusion? Is it the goal to be safe? Is safety God’s plan for us?

Very soon after safely arriving in Helena from Cochabamba from the exploratory trip, a terrible home invasion happened to our close family friends in Kalispell, Montana. At nine o’clock at night, the dad (one of Quinn’s two groomsmen) unlocked his house’s side door to pop out to the garage to get a tool. A knife wielding, mentally ill drug addict entered their home while the dad was in the garage, and upon seeing the dad back in the house shouted and started to stab the dad. This family lives in a safe area of Kalispell, surrounded by beautiful homes and a few doors down from historic mansions. Safe is how the dad thought his family was until he found himself wrestling down a violent intruder in the hallway to the bedroom where his wife was reading bedtime stories to his two children. The grim episode made National Public Radio. There’s much more to this story, but thankfully the kids and wife were safe, the dad apprehended him despite knife wounds, and held him until the police came.

Quinn and I were shocked and scared for our friends’ terrible experience (praise God, they are doing well). Our question, “Is Bolivia safe?” morphed into, “What is safe, and does God want us to be safe?”
I’m never cavalier about safety; it’s a hallmark of my birth family. However, I began to see how too strong a desire for safety, can actually be dangerous. A risk-free faith life, a kind of “playing it safe” somehow puts us on cruise control, and the hazards of complacency are not far behind. Suddenly we have no regard for the poor, our prayers are anemic, and our thoughts become fixated solely on our petty preferences. On Sunday it’s too easy to sing about the “many dangers toils and snares*” without our hearts and minds engaged.

So my understanding of safety needs to change. Am I safely in the arms of Christ? Yes. Is the food and water I consume here safe? Perhaps. Will Jesus answer my prayers to break my heart for the things that break His, revealing a possible path to dangerous routes at times? Yes.

C.S. Lewis simply and powerfully illustrated this truth in the children’s classic, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Lucy, a child is asking about the Christ figure, Aslan the Lion.
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “didn’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver told you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”

Friend, when our faith is safe, we may be in grave danger. And when we step out of our safety zone for His sake, He is near.

*“Amazing Grace” public domain