The Safest Place to Hide

It's annoying.. I purchase a power-bank online and all of a sudden the top advertisements on my Internet news page features ...guess what... yep, power-banks along with a host of other 'irresistable' discounted electrical gadgets on sale.  In fact I don't even have to make a purchase. The other time out of boredom and curiosity I clicked onto an advert featuring dresses  on Facebook and almost immediately, I kept getting feeds on dresses and 'girly' stuff. Needless to say, every time I check out a town, a state or a country, I get an eyeful of places which promise me vacations to die for, complete with the never-ceasing  so-called cheap tickets on sale from a certain air-line. I am sure also I am not the only one who gets unsolicited email or SMS offers for loans and properties.

I know, I know, 'they' collect my data, and some smart computer somewhere analyses all the links I click online, and come up with my whole life's profile. That, without me even having to disclose any details apart from my name, sex and birthday, which incidentally is all I choose to disclose to the world anyway. Call me paranoid, but I don't really fancy every Tom, Dick and Harry knowing all the personal details of where I work, what movies I like, where is my current location, etc etc. It's none of anyone's business really.  Neither am I interested in chatting up with whoever is within 5 km of my vicinity. I deliberately hide posts when I get tired of seeing too many cute babies, food or holiday fotos. I purposely don't want to add even people I know as friends, much less friends of friends of friends. No apologies that I am not exactly socially-inclined.

And yet despite all my attempts to remain anonymous, it's amazing how accurate I am being 'read' by some super-smart data collector somewhere in the world. Apparently there are satellites which can zoom in on you, even whilst you are doing your business on the toilet-seat in your house (or anywhere else for that matter). Honestly I find that creepy, even though I know that's how man's future is being defined to a "T" by IT,  or whatever T-echnology that smart humans think up.

End of the day, we will end up with nowhere to hide ourselves, for nowhere will be 'safe' anymore, whether it's from prying electronic eyes up in the sky which aims to seduce us to spend our money or terrorists with intention to kill. Of course I received that infamous list of places to avoid in KL, purportedly to be their next 'hit'. So am I supposed to give up driving every time some evil fellas shoot people in broad daylight when they are getting into their cars or stopped at traffic lights? I wonder does it really make any difference if I shop for groceries in my (less public) local neighborhood store, when that innocent looking guy who just walked in could very well be hiding a gun under his jacket?

Honestly why should people be surprised that seemingly perfectly 'normal', even 'good' men can turn out to be paedophiles, or throw bombs everywhere, or smile for the camera when chopping off people's heads? After all, the Bible already pronounces and indicts the  human "heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) God isn't surprised at man's wickedness, no matter how nice, good or (even) religious people appear to be.

So now with all the fear-mongering multiplied many times over by the efficiency of the world wide web, where can we run to, what can we do, besides (uselessly) passing around dubious lists of places to avoid? We talk a lot about moderation, discussion, engagement, and (the latest buzz-word) de-radicalisation. All of which is fine, good and to be encouraged, assuming you can get people to listen and be rational in the first place. If only life can be reduced to such simplistics, we wouldn't have wars, injustice, discrimination, persecution, or crime to tackle. Certainly in the physical world, we do all we can to be alert, to cooperate with authorities and security forces. But realistically speaking, there's absolutely nothing that can guarantee that I don't end up being the next fatality in the national death statistics tomorrow, whether it's at the hands of a brutal terrorist, or due to a random accident, sudden heart attack or long-drawn disease. That's not exactly reassuring, but as they say, that's the way the cookie rumbles.

When I commented that we really shouldn't be rumor-mongers creating panic by passing around lists of places to avoid, one retort was it's done with 'good intention just in case'..... I don't doubt the good intention but I wanted to ask, just in case what? How can a list 'save' us when obviously death doesn't strike according to prescribed predictions of where, when or how? The fact is we just never know.

I do know one thing though - my life is held in God's good hands, the years I have on this earth is determined by Him, not by any other. The safest place I can be is to be found in Him. Like King David who knew his God, I can say, "Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings " (Psalm 63:7)  Besides, why should I fear death, when my Bible assures me by God's grace, the moment I called on the name of Jesus, I have already been saved into eternal life. So I don't need to stop and wonder, "Should I go to the mall today?" Or get all up-tight about terrorists, snatch-thieves, robbers, kidnappers or angry drivers on the road.

I can live a life free from any and all fear in the face of horribly fearful circumstances, because I choose to trust that my God is still in charge of the universe He created, no matter that the world appears to be spinning out of control at the hands of mankind gone raving mad. After all if I do not trust in Some One more powerful than me, bigger than the monsters of fear, I would be scaring myself silly every time I get yet another list of places to avoid, wasting my life away, forever searching (in vain) for places to hide from death.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.... "   Psalm 23:4-5