The Safest Place on Earth

Louise and I used Simon Guillebaud's daily devotional (Choose Life) for a good part of last year and so we felt like we got to know him, in some small way.     When I quickly skimmed his recent blog post I did a double take.   I read how the crisis in Burundi is so bad that after much heart-wrenching prayer they had decided to leave and go home.  I just assumed that it meant that they were coming back to the UK.  But no.  They were, of course, returning to their home - Burundi.

Simon writes:   We are flying back into a very tense, fear-filled and fragile situation. Rumours abound. Dead bodies are regularly found on the streets in the morning. The country is at a critical moment in its history. The kids will have to get used to listening to regular gunfire again (I’ve just downloaded an app for white noise to turn up at night-time to mask the scary sounds). As a husband and father, I feel the weight of responsibility like never before, but as I’ve often preached, the safest place to be is in the heart of God’s will, and safety isn’t the absence of danger, it’s the presence of God. We’re immortal until He calls us home.   We can’t just talk a good game, we have to live those words out.

It put the concerns I have for this coming year and beyond into stark contrast.   I can't just talk a good game.......

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