‘Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form.
“Come in,” she said,
“I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”
Shelter from the storm” –Bob Dylan
The term” Shelter-In-Place” has started floating around the WNS and expat communities recently bringing with it an odd mixture of anxiety ridden security. Students in my wife’s high school classes are even making plans for how to enjoy Spring Break while being “in place” for a week. “I’ll bring my X-box.” “I’ll bring the movies.” “I can bring my old Nintendo.” While this may not be the Emergency Preparedness Plan that the adult expatriate community is talking about it is none-the-less a valiant attempt to be ready for Shelter-In-Place should it be announced by the embassy.
According to a high schooler all the recent talk amounts to being confined in your house, or desolation row, instead of traveling the country and enjoying life. The United States Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya explains Shelter-In-Place as more of a protective measure. Either perspective involves stock piling food and necessities for a couple of weeks as well as having a contingency plan. The experts and others supposedly in the know do not expect the presidential elections, scheduled for March 4th, to result in wide-spread violence or disruption but being prepared is always wise.
I remember looking through the emergency plans at other schools:
Thailand: Refugees flooding in from Myanmar and you always prepared in case Myanmar resumed shelling the border regions.
Korea: You never quite knew what the North might do so it’s always good to have an out. Birds and pigs caused a stir and people started talking about a “pandemic” and all the uncertainty that comes with that. And who can forget SARS.
Peru: It’s a Third-World country. Your whole existence sometimes is a contingency plan.
Japan: Earthquakes and Tsunamis are the big two but Radiation has recently been added.
USA: Earthquake, Tornado, Floods, Hurricanes, etc.
Actively practicing drills in preparation for fire, earthquake, lock-down, etc. are a regular part of school life everywhere in the world so it shouldn’t be a surprise to be thinking of “being prepared” again, but a new thought occurred to me here. In all of the previous places I can not for the life of me remember seeing toilet paper on the list of items to stock up on. Maybe it was assumed that I knew. Thank you Kenya for reminding me. I didn’t know. Sometimes it’s the things we take for granted that we truly need the most.
In thinking about it, my emergency plans have always been rather incomplete in the past. Not just missing toilet paper either. Another thing I noticed on the list here is to make sure I have on hand is a Bible, notebook, and pen. To be sheltered in place without God is not very comforting. The Bible is of course an excellent thing to have but the notebook and pen indicate more of an active involvement with God. A reflective dialog perhaps? How many times have I been in a storm without dialoging with God? How many times has it been merely a one-way statement; “Help me!” often followed by pleading? How many times have I intentionally prayed for those causing the chaos or for others hurt by the storms of life instead of myself? Don’t we all desire internal and eternal shelter?
So as the Kenyan elections are closing in I know that being sheltered-in-place is more than just stock piling a few non-perishable items. It is more about improving upon my non-perishable relationship with God and praying for Kenya. Praying for the “aching whose wounds ‘have not been’ nursed. For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse.” Let’s pray for all of us to come to know the lasting peace that only comes from Him and is given within, in spite of the uncertainties, fears, or storms we all face.
Come in God said I’ll give you shelter from the storm.
nehrely there 