This morning we woke up to find that there had been another terrible attack in our city.
There was something incongruous about reading the news while J bounced in, happy to be awake and alive and looking forward to breakfast, our child who we chose to bring to this city.
But then I remembered that this world is not safe.
At this point, I could discuss the nuances of how unsafe does a country need to be before you either don't go or, if you're there already, start packing to leave. There are issues of managing risk that could be considered. I could even throw in some theological truths, or at least cliches.
But actually, I want to talk about a fundamental assumption that Westerners often make. L and I are from an anomalous generation. We grew up 40-50 years after the end of World War Two, in a period of relative peace, stability and prosperity in the West. Yes, some Western countries have been involved in wars and armed struggles in the last few decades - but nothing like the scale of the first half of the twentieth century, or indeed most of history in most of the world up to this point.
In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking that the UK was a fairly safe place to live.
The logical result of this is that there are many people in the West for whom being safe is the de facto state of being, and it then becomes an inbuilt assumption into our thinking. And so doing anything or going anywhere that challenges that basic assumption is often seen as ill-advised, foolhardy or even just plain dangerous.
It's why some people asked us before we left the UK how we could take our child to a country that has had its fair share of tragic incidents over the last 18 months.
But guess what? This world is not safe.
We often find comfort in pursuing the illusion of safety. It gives us peace of mind and when something terrible and tragic does happen, we can console ourselves with the idea that we'd done everything we could. But terrible and tragic events do happen. Even if the UK seems relatively safe from war and famine, there are terrorist attacks, crime, motorway pile ups and all manner of accidents. And even if you skirt all those dangers, maybe your own body will betray you and you'll get a disease or illness.
Nowhere are we promised that we get to live life in a safe environment. Over the course of history, the world has not generally been a very safe place. And there's a good argument to be made that the period of stability and peace we have enjoyed will not continue to the same degree in the future.
Our true safety is not a location, it's a person. And our objective in life is not to live comfortable lives in as much safety as we can afford but to follow someone who was born in a land occupied by a foreign army, who escaped being murdered when his family became refugees in a neighbouring country. Someone who taught people while religious leaders plotted his death and who was tortured and executed when, in human terms, he had many years of life left.
We're not promised physical safety in this world. Is a servant greater than his master? But for those who believe and follow a man who death could not keep its hold on, we are promised eternal safety and security. And in an unsafe and uncertain world, it's that sure and certain hope that I want to cling onto and that I long for my children to hold on to.
"The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
