Refugees

**This post was written in March of 2016, but for some reason I never published it, but it seems I should tonight.

 What comes to mind when you here the word refugee?  Have you ever seen a refugee in real life?  I have.  They looked the part, in trouble, scared, in distress.  A man in a bind, in need of help.  In over their head and in need of someone to come to their aid.

 News outlets have conditioned us to see refugees as foreigners. The refugee I'm most familiar with is the one who looks a lot like me.   A refugee is someone in need of refuge. See what I did there?  Why would an American ever need refuge? Inside our borders we have everything we need, that's why there's a line to get in right? We both rightly and wrongly place a lot of hope in our American soil and a lot of other things. We've got so much security, jobs, the constitution, there are laws and boundaries in place, we can call 911 and out roll the cops, the firemen, the EMTs,  there are programs  in place if we fall on hard times, there's Uber if I'm stranded,  insurance companies,  literal shelters, and on top of that we've got our bank accounts and 401Ks,  our families and security measures and plans of our own in place. We call for help when our internet goes out other than this we've pretty much got it covered. Hashtag BLESSED.

God bless America! And as someone who's seen other parts of this world, I can confirm, He sure has! It's always wonderful to come HOME. America is GREAT.

What flashes in my mind when I hear the term refugee?   A family huddled in a basement bathtub as tornado sirens wail, kids with a trash bag of their belongings timidly walking into a new foster care home, the line outside the homeless shelter on Commercial at dusk each evening. I see a man pleading with the loan officer in the back corner of the bank, parents rushing a feverish, inconsolable child into the ER at 1am.  I see the family of a drug addict, the couple walking out of divorce court, the widow being handed the flag at the funeral.  The girl in the mirror. It's found in all our eyes at one time or another, desperation, vulnerability, fear, anguish, depletion, need.

Refuge isn't really in our vocabulary. Our needs are met when we run to the bank, stop at the grocery store, make a doctor's appointment. It's getting cold we better stop by the mall after school and pick up new winter coats. Do you know of a good rehab?  A good marriage counselor?  Our refuge is where we go when we see need or we  find ourselves in need, for many the first stop is home, we dip into our internal resources. What's your go to?  Mine, more often than not, is ME, my next paycheck, my incredible wealth of knowledge and wisdom, my outstanding people skills, even when I finally resort to prayer I still give the Most High ideas of how He can fix the problem at hand.

I'll bet you think all this was triggered by the news droning on in the background, nope it was  by a little verse tucked into my Bible reading this morning, Psalm 34:8:

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in the Lord."  

Check it out and see, He says. #Blessed is the man who runs to the Lord when he finds himself in over his head, in distress, in a bind, depleted physically, emotionally, relationally, even financially. #Blessed is the guy who reaches his hands upward to His savior when he's at a loss, scared, in trouble.

Where do you take refuge? While I'm a fan of doctors, counselors, friends, savings accounts, retirement plans, a huge fan of Benedryl, Google, hard work, Merica,  tornado shelters, and Travelers insurance, all the good looking men who come when I dial 911, and good government; I challenge you to make a different first call.  When I find a refugee staring back at me in the mirror, I'm trying to make my first call, my first point of service, where I run, where I seek safety, guidance, help, and security, FIRST to be in Him. Psalm 34:8 says I'll be #BLESSED if I do. Plus, all of those other things might one day not work, might not be available, might not be able to help me so my security should be found in something that the storm can't touch, that the fire can't destroy, in something that can't be taken, squandered, or lost.

Oh and since this post was titled refugees, if my refuge is in the Lord, I don't have to be scared any fellow refugees I may encounter along the way.

Trust in Him at all times oh people; pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. (even during election season!) :)
Ps. 62:8