If I Perish...

(Disclaimer: This was written during the height of civil unrest in the country we live in. That situation has been mostly resolved and we are in no danger at this time)

As the riots began, it was hard not to want to panic. My husband still had to go into work, even though the students stayed home. And as I ventured outside into our “apartment yard,” life was going on like usual. Maybe this is the way things should be. Maybe there was no real danger. Or maybe it was a coping mechanism. Having grown up in a sheltered home in a stable country, I can’t say I relish this “excitement.” But it reminds me of the lesson I learned in India. Indian travel is sketchy at best. The little auto-rickshaws are cars built over a motorcycle. They’re rickety and the drivers race through traffic as if they’re invincible. When you opt to take a car, you never know if a taxi driver is “safe,” you just hope and assume them to be. There are few seatbelts, and they enjoy playing chicken by driving into oncoming traffic until someone swerves into the ditch at the last second. Cows wander the highways at will. The trains are known to plunge off poorly-maintained bridges. And don’t even attempt a subway, as they are the perfect spot for bombs. One time, sitting on the train, several soldiers got on, sitting just down from us. They openly stared at us, while cradling their AK47’s. It was at this moment that I realized the constant anxiety of potential threats was going to be the death of me. I began quoting “if I perish, I perish.” Someone had asked why we wouldn’t just take a “safe” method of transportation. Simple. None existed. So much of what could happen to us was far out of our control. And so, this little verse served me well then, and so it is now. As I see life going on, it cannot slam to a halt every time there’s a potential issue. Our times are in His Hands so we can be at rest, regardless of the circumstance. As someone once said:

"Until the Lord calls me home, I am invincible."

~ Unknown ~