Where is "Safe"?

   As Mayre and I sat in front of the TV last night and watched the things go on in San Bernadino, CA, we thought "Is there safety anywhere?"

   We don't live in Syria with all of the strife.

   We don't even live in a large American city with gang violence around the corner.

   We live in beautiful St. Simons, on an island, on a quiet street populated by nice people, and even in a gated condo with fences and a gate code.

   Then the phone rang and the message on the TV screen told us that it was the phone at the gate. If someone wants to have us open the gate from our condo, they just press the number listed by our name by the gate, and we can use our phone keypad to open it for them.

   I picked up the phone and heard voices on the other end, but no one evidently heard me say "hello" and they just continued to talk to each other. I knew someone was out there and wanted in, and no doubt they were legitimate, so I pressed the right number on my phone and heard the gate voice say, "access granted, please enter".

   Then I thought, "who in the world did I just open the gate for?"

   I walked downstairs to the garage to see if I could tell who it was and watched as a car came out of the other condo building and exited by the front gate (no code needed, it opens when a vehicle comes up to it from inside.

   There are 42 units in our complex, and everyone home last night never knew that some 'clown' had opened the gate for a unknown person.

   They all thought they, and their belongings, were safe behind the fence and gate.

   We all unthinkingly put our trust in police, in locks, in gates and fences; in guns and in our own abilities.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;

   The only true safety we have.