Newark, Terrorism and the God Who’s with Us

Last night, in one of the country’s busiest airports, a man breeched security. He walked the wrong way through an exit in Terminal C, disappeared, and caused a 6 hour lockdown. As of this morning, they still don’t know who he is. As we have many times in the last decade, we tensed into our post-9/11 flinch–a reminder that a new year, even a new decade, doesn’t wipe away the risk of what we now know is possible.

Last night, in one of the country’s busiest airports, a man breeched security. He walked the wrong way through an exit in Terminal C, disappeared, and caused a 6 hour lockdown. As of this morning, they still don’t know who he is. As we have many times in the last decade, we tensed into our post-9/11 flinch–a reminder that a new year, even a new decade, doesn’t wipe away the risk of what we now know is possible.

A couple of weeks before this happened, I heard a children’s sermon about a Native American tribe’s rite of passage. When an adolescent boy was ready to become a man, he was blindfolded,  led deep into the forest, and left there to survive the night’s dangers alone. He had to go through the darkness, predators, fear. But come morning, the light would reveal one who’d been watching and protecting him all night long: his own father.

Last night, I thought of this children’s sermon again.  We live in a broken world–one we weren’t designed for. It is unnatural for this world to be filled with predators and evil and fear. It is a perversion of God’s creation that there is terror and death. The sin that rusted Eden has become our reality. We have to go through the darkness.

But not alone.

Daylight reveals a faithful Father, ever-present and ever-protecting. Until we see heaven, we’ll live in this unnatural, violent world. Sometimes God stops the corruption–foils the plot, cures the cancer, removes the threat. Other times, our good, loving, compassionate God lets some bad things happen. Our puny minds can’t see the plan, but whatever we face, we can trust in His character: [bible]Ps 86:15[/bible].  We can trust that He is with us and weaves together everything–the best and the
worst–into good for His children and glory to HIm (Romans 8:28).

Newark, thankfully, was anti-climactic. Yes, a 6-hour lockdown, huge inconvience and heightened security, but no bomb or plot discovered. Yet, even if Newark had turned out differently, the God who loves us was there. Even when night comes (as it most certainly will), God is present. Even if terror comes again, He’ll be there with us.  Even if, God is. [bible]Ps 46:1-5[/bible]