suffered through harsh, painful, and
precarious experiences. It’s natural
to want to avoid that in the future,
and so we’re tempted to surround
ourselves with barriers. Sometimes
those barriers are literal—like gated
communities—but more often they are
nuanced. Perhaps we want to live in a
certain zip code or only shop in certain
“safe” areas. Perhaps we want to
attend a church that doesn’t challenge
our contentedness. The point is we
establish barriers in all parts of our
lives.
All these human “walls” of safety are
illusory though. Remember, God wants
us to risk exploring our neighborhoods,
not remain on the porch watching life
go by. I love the Living Bible translation
of Proverbs 18:11: “The rich man
thinks of his wealth as an impregnable
defense, a high wall of safety. What a
dreamer!”
If we think we’re designed to live
comfortable lives behind safe walls,
we’re dreamers. And worse, in the
Roy Goble version of that verse, we’re
wimps!
Look, I’m not against safety. There are a
lot of wise things we should absolutely
do to protect ourselves and others.
Bike helmets, seatbelts, sunscreen,
and recalling contaminated Brussel
sprouts all that makes good sense.
Actually, recalling all Brussel sprouts
might make better sense. But life is
risky no matter what we do to protect
ourselves. We can be completely safe
by the world’s standards and still be
Solutions • 15