Valerie Rae Hanneman
Psalm 91:5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,” (NIV)
Isaiah 26:4 “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock Eternal.” (NIV)
Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." (NIV)
When Fawn was working up at Sierra Summit Ski Resort she often came home on her days off. I usually took her back up the mountain because I truly enjoyed the beautiful drive and it was just that much longer I could keep her with me. Once I took my twin 7-yr-old niece and nephew with me so they could play in the snow for a wee bit before we headed back home. We had so much fun that is was dark by the time we were back in the car. We were driving at a fairly cautious speed because the snowbanks on the side of the road were piled higher than the roof of the car and the road was frosted white with snow. The only break in the whiteness of it all was the dark night and the gaps in the snowbanks that indicated a significant drop-off by the side of the road. But visibility was good and although I was driving cautious, I was not concerned. That is when we hit it. I don’t know if it was fog or a low-lying cloud that we drove into, all I know is that we were suddenly engulfed in white and my visibility suddenly dropped to about 10 feet. I immediately slowed down and we started inching our way down the mountain. After the second time of almost running into a snowbank because I couldn’t tell the road was curving, and remembering those gaps in the snowbanks, I moved to the center of the road . As visibility continued to drop, I had to move over again so Steven could open his door and watch the painted line on the side of the road to keep us on track. Believe me, Father and I were doing some serious communicating at that point in time. We were hitting top speeds of 3 miles per hour, I couldn’t see anything ahead of me except white, and my niece and nephew were in the back seat, “Aunt Valerie! I’m sca-a-a-a-red!” Then my brain pushed to the forefront a reminder of that hairpin turn right by the Shaver Dam and the sheer drop along one whole one side of it. That drop, that made me nervous under the best of circumstances, was on my side of the road. To say that I was in a highly stress situation would be an understatement. I wanted to yell at my niece and nephew to SHUT UP! because the truth of the matter was that I was scared too.
The world we live in is a scary place. There are terrorist attacks all over the world that leave us shocked at the evil that advocates the loss of innocent lives. There are threats of terrorist attacks in our own country that we must be on constant guard against. Of even greater danger is the “wrong place - wrong time” of the escalating violence on our streets. Predators stalk our children on the internet. Sexual immorality and perversion is called good and natural and preached to us over the TV and in our schools. Our family values are torn down more and more each day. Our faith values are mocked by the “politically correct.” We wonder if it can get any worse - then terrorists take a school hostage - and we know that it can.
It is enough to make you want to barricade yourself and your family in your house to try and protect them from what is going on in this world. But we can’t do that - and even if we could - would we really be safe?
We cannot be safe in this world if we are looking to the things of this earth to keep us safe.
We must seek our safety outside of what this earth offers. Our safety is found in what our Father offers. He offers us the promise that He is so intent on us that at any given moment He can tell us the number of hairs on our head. He offers us the assurance that He is the Rock Eternal - and He will not be moved. He offers us the strength of His hand and the knowing that nothing is strong enough to take us out of His hand. He offers us the courage to go on because we know that He goes before us, He is with us and He will never leave us or forsake us. We are absolutely safe with Father.
Father has never promised that we would not face the same tragedies and sorrows the rest of the world faces. Starting with Stephen in the book of Acts to the Christian rescue workers who died today in a plane crash our earthy lives are just as vulnerable and as fragile as any non-Christians. But that is where the resemblance ends. It is our real life - our eternal life - that is absolutely safe with Him. What a glorious foundation and promise for our lives. We are forever safe.
Obviously, I made it down the side of the mountain safely. And by the time we got to the hairpin turn that I was so worried about visibility had improved enough for me to get through it. I will admit to you that it was a scary incident in my life. I prayed and I prayed hard for us because I was afraid for the physical well-being of each one of us in that car. But there was no fear for my real life - my eternal life. I knew I was safe in my Father’s hands.
This earth is a scary place but we are eternally safe with Father. We can face this world with courage because of His promises to us.
Abba, this world is a dangerous place and there are no promises that say I will not be harmed by it. Your promise is that I am eternally safe with You. Nothing can take me away from You. Thank You for keeping me safe in You.
Contact Valerie at valerie@fresnofirst.org
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Posted by Valerie at September 24, 2004 07:53 PM