Wrote this post in May, but only got around to posting it up now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When our “windows of security” are removed, we’re forced to remember God
as our ultimate security.
This was our ‘
literal’ experience during our Field trip
to the
Royal Ploughing Day Ceremony here in Cambodia.
We had arrived early at the OMF Team Center with another family, waiting for
the others to gather. David had wound down the (automatic) windows from his
driver’s control panel so that we could all get some fresh air while we waited
in the car with the engine turned off.
As we were about to begin our journey, each of us pressed our own control button
to wind up the windows, but
the windows wouldn’t go up except for the one at
the driver’s seat. David tried from his ‘master control’ but nothing
happened either with the 3 other passenger windows. We even tried turning off
the car engine in hope of “rebooting” it (just like a computer perhaps?)!
Shrugging it off as one of those problems you get with an old car,
we travelled through the dusty streets of Phnom Penh, occasionally moaning
about the fumes that were getting into the car because of our open windows.
It was not until we arrived at an open-space car park that it suddenly
struck us –
our car was now an easy target for car-thieves! We parked
right in front of the little hut where the guard was, but guess what? He was
asleep!
That certainly didn’t give us much sense of security!
So we prayed. There was nothing else we could do. Right there & then,
we realised that all we could do was to trust & depend on God to
protect the car & its contents.
Yet, it was also eye-opening to realize that, we wouldn’t have thought twice
about depending on God when the windows were working!
But isn’t that faulty
thinking? Who ultimately holds the security of our car, our possessions,
even our lives? The multi-faceted locks on doors & windows? The security
gate? The state-of-the-art alarm system? The insurance policy?
The security hedges we build
around us sometimes do hinder us from experiencing the amazing loving hand of
God holding, sustaining, protecting us from harm or loss. Sometimes, it takes
the removing of some of these ‘security items’ before our eyes can see beyond toward
the true hedge of security, toward God our fortress.
As it turned out, our car & everything in it was safe & intact when we got back to it after the ceremony. God was watching indeed!
