...and that that's okay.
This theme has been building over my last three posts. It hasn't been entirely intentional. But when we study history, we quickly see that this world isn't safe. Biographies are filled with pain and loss and bereavement.
No, this world is not safe.
In fact, one of my frustrations with a Christian radio station is their tagline: "Safe for the whole family." If what you offer is "safe for the whole family," then perhaps You're Doing It Wrong. I don't mean to suggest that there aren't times when only positive and encouraging things are appropriate. But if we are to follow Christ's command to be as shrewd as serpents yet innocent as doves, we need to be challenged.
And biographies can certainly be challenging! The men who are murdered by the tribe they went to reach? The missionary family whose 6-month old son almost drowned in the river as they moved in? The woman who lost her sight in a helicopter accident involving dry concrete? The many close calls that people have smuggling Bibles? Accounts like these force us to confront the dangers of life and carefully consider God's protection and/or lack thereof. These stories--which I'm recalling from memory so please feel free to correct me--bring to my mind the oft-quoted line about Aslan: "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good."
There's a reason that passage is so popular. God is good, even when He isn't safe.
Once again, this is a reason why Sonlight includes books with difficult content that some people shy away from. We aren't those who shy away. We're called to engage this world and bring the hope of Christ to the hopeless. And there's no way that doing that will be safe.
May we follow God, wherever He leads us, resting in His goodness and grace.
The biographies you'll read as part of your Sonlight homeschool curriculum teach us that life isn't safe, but that God's goodness make's that okay.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
