Shelter in place. This was not a term I thought to hear again after my retirement from the military. Certainly we had shelter in place drills during many exercises and I learned the value of those exercises when rockets and mortars were being sent in my general direction in Iraq. But here in San Antonio? I would not have thought to have heard this unless it was the end of the world. Yellowstone is going to blow up. A meteor is headed our way.
But our leaders have ordered "shelter in place". That said, it is not the end of the world. That is in no way meant to minimize the hardships people will endure in the coming weeks. It is in no way meant to minimize the sacrifices many people are making for the well-being of the neighbor or the risk that essential personnel are taking also for our neighbors. But Christ has not yet returned, and hence, it is not yet the end of the world.
A wake up call? Perhaps.
All those things we thought were so solid, so dependable, that we invest so much time and energy in, don't seem so secure, so much a source of safety, in some cases not even as important as we thought they were. We are being forced to ask ourselves as a people -- what is really important. Where is there safety? Where is there shelter from the storm?
"For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock" (Psalm 27:5 ) We are kept safe in Christ. We are by the blood of Christ the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the temple of God. God is as near to you in this moment as your very breath.
And what does this God promise?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev 21:1-4)
God bless each of you.
