Community Fear

If there can be anything good that can come out of being robbed last week, I think that one of the good things has been the conversations we've been able to have with people in this community.  And people are afraid.

Even though its about shadows and noises in the night, there is real fear out there. It's a very motivating thing for this community.

Guys are going to bed with loaded guns, alarm systems are being installed, new deadbolt locks are being put on doors, dogs are being purchased, and for at least one homeowner I spoke with, they are barricading their doors overnight. Fear is motivating us.

If I needed convincing that the fear is real, living through the dark middle of the night fear of the past week convinces me that people will do whatever they can, to dispel the fear because it can be traumatizing. Even for people who are simply neighbours of people effected by last weeks events.

In a way, this fear causes us to build defensive walls that remove from us any vulnerability to the outside world. This is a safety response, but it can also be dangerous.

Its dangerous to us because the protective walls we build, also become walls that keep us in. They start to look a lot like prisons after a while.

And we build prisons of fear, of addiction, of abuse. In our desire never to be vulnerable again, we create structures that we think will protect us. And we are just walling ourselves in. Prisons.

It takes some courage in times like these, to be bold and a bit vulnerable, and to pray the prayer that David prayed when he was trapped in a cave and in deep fear for his life; "Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name."

That's been my real prayer for us and for this community this past week. That God would set us free from our prisons of fear.

Tonight as I go to sleep, with the doors and windows wisely closed and locked, that's still my prayer for you our neighbours throughout this community. That God would set us free from prisons of fear.

Night.
Sleep tight  :)