Safety Trap: Feeling Safe and Secure

This week we have a special guest writer, Nicolette Hutcherson, one of Stonebriar Community Church’s missionaries in Beirut, Lebanon, which was devastated by an explosion several months ago. Nicolette and her husband, Caleb, serve the Lord in Lebanon with WorldVenture. While most of us are not raising our children in a “dangerous part of the world,”  all of us can be wooed by feelings of safety and security in the environment we’ve created for our families. There’s a safety trap here that Nicolette helps us see with powerful clarity.

The Safety Trap

When our eldest child was five years old, we were spending the afternoon at a secluded park in North Carolina, surrounded by trees and not much else.  All of a sudden, I realized my daughter was nowhere to be seen, and after a quick and frantic search, we discovered her in the public bathroom.  We had to have yet another conversation with our daughter—born and bred in the Middle East—about life in America and how she shouldn’t wander off alone.  “Yes,” she replied, “America isn’t safe like Lebanon is.”

I used to tell that story as a matter of pride, or as a defense when people would accuse us of raising our children in a dangerous part of the world.  But a few weeks ago, I was recounting that story to a teammate, and my voice caught in my throat and I found myself crying.  Because it’s no longer true for my children.  They no longer see Lebanon as a safe place.

The explosion that rocked our city, our house, our bodies six months ago broke more than just houses, churches, schools, and lives. It destroyed our children’s feeling of safety in their home. Everywhere we go, we see remnants of the blast. Loud sounds still cause our hearts to skip a beat, and the shudder of our building when a big truck rumbles by still leaves us breathless.

I grieve the loss of the feeling of safety for my kids in the wake of the explosion. Isn’t that, after all, one of our main jobs as parents? To keep our children safe?  That’s certainly what the culture tells us, and increasingly it feels like so much of our lives revolve around chasing after safety.  Job security, active shooter drills, baby proofing our homes, quarantine . . . all to keep ourselves, our family, and our communities safe.

There is wisdom in all of these things, don’t get me wrong! God does not ask us to be reckless with our lives or the lives of others.

But when we base our feelings of safety and security in the environment we’ve created for our families, what about when we’ve taken all precautions and still come down with the coronavirus? Or when an explosion makes showering a terrifying experience for our child, what are we left with? A feeling that nowhere is safe, that nothing we can do will completely protect our children, that life is fleeting and the world is broken. That is a terrifying feeling.

But it’s also a convicting feeling. Because it can mean that faith has been misplaced. We are trusting ourselves and our ability to control our environments to keep ourselves and our families safe. And as believers, we know that is not what the Bible teaches. In Hebrews 13, the author reminds us of God’s promise to never leave nor forsake us. He writes,

So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:6

What can man do to me? A whole lot, actually. But that’s not the point of trusting God for safety, is it? We trust God for safety not because He has promised that we will never face danger, but because He has promised that He will be with us no matter what we go through. No matter what man does to us, if we trust in Jesus, we know our souls are safe with Him.

So while I still grieve the loss my children faced this past year when the illusion of safety was violently taken away from them, it challenges me to make sure I am teaching them well what true safety means and where we can find it: in the arms of a loving God who walks with us, even through the valley of the shadow of death.

If you would like to read more stories about families on mission, read:

Your Family’s Adventurous Journey

Author

  • Nicolette Hutcherson

    Caleb and Nicolette focus on theological education at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary and ministry to at-risk children through Safe Haven Society. Both wanted to use their skills, education, and passions in a place where many have never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel.

    For more information on the Hutcherson family and other Stonebriar-sponsored missionaries visit: stonebriar.org/adopt-a-missionary.

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