Gun Scare

A friend calls in the middle of the day to make sure I am okay.

I was fine - I was at a playdate.  Why the concern?

There was a gunman at a gas station near you, just an hour ago.

Local businesses were on lock-down to protect the safety of their employees.

I was terrified and dumbfounded.


We live in small town America, and we've got people of all sorts.  I just didn't think it was possible that we'd have a crazy gunman less than a mile from our house.


Immediately, I was thankful for my friend who called to check if we were alright.  Then I thanked God we weren't home at the time, and that we weren't fueling up the car at the wrong time.


Then I started thinking of what we would've done if we were home at the time.  We would lock all the doors and head to the basement where there are very few windows.  All our lights and t.v. would be off so it would appear that no one was home.  What would I tell my children so they would not be scared?  I could tell them there was a tornado warning, and we needed to go to the basement just in case.  What?  Lie to my kids?  I would hate to do that, but there are some times when a lie is made to protect people.  This would be one of those times.

Does anyone else out there immediately start running scenarios in their head, even if the situation has ended?  I think I do this so, in case it ever happens again, I will be prepared.  And for peace of mind that I would know what to do if I were ever in the situation.  I was worried sick, even though the whole event was over by the time our phone conversation ended.
 

A few hours later, as I was driving home, I thought, "Maybe we could go for a bike ride after dinner."  A pretty normal thought for me, but then it was followed by, "But I probably shouldn't do that.  We'd be out in the open, easy targets for any crazies with guns that happened to decide they'd like to shoot someone today."  "We'll play in the yard instead," I thought.  And then I started to think of the ways people could access our yard, shoot my children or take them.


That fast, fear took hold and I didn't know what to do with this new knowledge.  This unsafe world.  I've heard some people say that, if you give into terrorists' scare tactics, they win.

Okay, I don't want the terrorists to win, or your average armed crazy off the street, but what does that mean for me, a mom with 3 kids in tow?  I am fiercely protective of my children, but I don't want to be a prisoner in my own home because some crazy with a gun went nutso several blocks away.
 

I want to be safe.  I want to be wise.  But I don't want to be a victim.

I don't want to be paranoid.

I need to remember to trust God for my safety.  To trust his plan.  But I can also follow this advice from Jesus:

“Listen, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as clever as snakes and as innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16)

Our world has a lot of crazy in it, but the people of this planet need Jesus.  

I cannot put my family in a bubble to protect them from all the weird stuff, the trouble, the awfulness that mankind can think up.



What would you do?  How would you or have you dealt with this situation?



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