Danger

I live in a scary neighborhood; well maybe not now, but just a few years ago, wow.  When I first came to New York, I heard about great shopping and pickles.  Pickles were not the wimpy small things in the grocery store.  Pickles were not sweet or bland.  They were big, crispy, sharp, and at times spicy!  You found them in the basement of the building I now call home when I am in New York.  Shopping included fantastic deals on luggage and almost any type of garment one could possibly imagine.  There was a catch.  It wasn’t safe for a man or woman to walk the street at dusk, not to mention night.    
 
If you were to walk the streets of the lower east side at night by yourself, the odds of being mugged, assaulted, or even killed was extremely high.  The probability of a threatening person asking for money and or drugs and accompanied by a threat was almost a given.  As a result, with lengthening shadows, I fled north, south, or west.  I went to somewhere safe!
 
I find myself in a neighborhood that is a lot safer but still full of danger.  It isn’t that different from work’s deadlines, mandates, and obligations.  It is hard to know where one can go.  Demands fly from every corner.  Threats haunt you no matter where are you are.  Adversaries hide in the clothes of friends and even those close to you fail to defend your honor.  Is anywhere safe?
 
For years, I didn’t have an answer.  Attacks came everywhere I looked and went.  In time, a group of friends in London introduced me to someone I thought I knew but did not.  I discovered God travelling with me.  In the middle of my fears, uncertainties, and doubts, the answer was clear.  “That's right.  Because I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I'm not letting go.  I'm telling you, ‘Don't panic.  I'm right here to help you.’”  (Isaiah 41.13)
 
Danger is all around us, so is God.  God has, is, and will win.