a few days ago, the news spread that the place where i am is becoming unsafe for ladies who always travel alone. a number of robbery & murder incidents have been reported to the police and these crimes were done in broad daylight by those bikers who are riding in tandem. it's creepy... i believe the news tells us that the rate of tourism has decreased due to these incidents...
in neighboring provinces, bombings and cases of ambush were reported... but i had to go to one of them places... and i ask, will i return alive? i imagine what will happen when things get rough... i'm pretty sure i would buried somewhere unknown to my family and well, nobody would care except some friends who knew where i was going...
i grew up fearless (sort of) in going to places - some safe, some a bit unsafe... i guess i acquired it from my mother. She used to bring me with her in her night classes down town - a seven-kilometer walk at dusk and then another seven kilometers when her classes end at about nine or ten in the evening. I was four or five years old then and i loved those times with Mama. we had some creepy experiences together... once, we got to meet two armed men who were members of the rebels hiding somewhere in the mountains near our place... they escorted us to our home and told mama not to be walking around at night with a kid... it's a dangerous thing to do... but we did it again anyway... i don't remember meeting those guys again though. another time, we were haunted by some weird creatures... we had to pee on the road side but there was this huge dog staring at us which appeared from nowhere... i peed anyway... and stared into its eyes while reciting Psalm 23... when the moon is out, we would prepare dried coconut leaves, tie them together and hide them in bushes a few meters after another so we wouldn't go walking in the dark for we have torches... i would say that my mother is one brave woman and while i get to be brave in one way or another, i find myself thinking if i would have the same courage she had... i probably won't...
there was a time in our family life when we were threatened by a neighbor who carried a gun outside our church... he was very drunk and he really wanted to hurt us... Mama stood by the door locked by a piece of nail holding the only knife in the house which was very dull... i smile when i remember that fateful day when i was in high school... i really didn't think mama's knife would save us from the gun... but i knew she would protect us with her life...
some days in my work are pretty dangerous and uncertain... the places i go to and the company i have while travelling (i am mostly alone) do not assure me of a safe arrival... yet, somewhere in the deepest corners of my heart, i know that the One who has kept me safe and who has walked with me ever since i was reborn in Him, will never allow anything to happen if it is not part of His will... that has always been my principle... and yes, even though i walk in the shadow of death, i will fear not evil, for You, my God are with me...
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