Home Security

Police in Hartford, Connecticut we called to check on a man after relatives reported him missing. When they forced their way into his house, they found him dead of natural causes. They also found guns. Hundreds of guns scattered throughout the man’s house. There were about 500 in all, all of them legally registered to the man who was fully licensed. Police said that the man had no criminal record and he wasn’t a gun dealer. He just liked guns and evidently kept them around to keep him safe.

This isn’t a blog about gun control. I’m sure you can find many discussion boards on all sides of that issue. I have friends on both sides of the gun control debate, and I always stand by my friends. After the VA Tech and NIU and various mall shootings in the last year, I can’t help but think that we need to do a better job controlling something! I remember Pat Paulsen, that genius of American politics, suggesting that outlawing guns would cause other problems—without guns, how are you supposed to kill anybody?

No, this blog isn’t about guns; it’s about the illusion of safety in this world. Here was a guy who probably fits anyone’s definition of “heavily armed.” With 500 guns scattered around, anyone breaking into to this guy’s house would be in for a surprise. But then the guy drops dead of a heart attack or something and his guns can do nothing to change that. I type in a code each night on a keypad before going to bed—I call it a security system, but it really doesn’t give any security. We can exercise, eat right, get yearly check-ups, wear our seat belts—there is no security and there are no guarantees. There was a article in the paper this week about a man making dinner for his family when he burned his hand on the stove, jerked his hand back, stabbed himself in the chest with the paring knife he was using and died. There are no safe places in this world; there is no security. Even with 500 guns laying around!

The only real security is found in God. That doesn’t means that faith insulates us from crime or protects us from health issues, It does mean that a relationship that transcends this world with its trouble and strife is the security we will find. There is a peace that passes understanding in the assurance that “God is good and all is well.” David wrote in Psalm 62:7,8—

7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

We do need to take precautions in this unsafe world. We indeed need to exercise, eat right, get yearly check-ups, wear our seat belts and use security systems. Personally, I think packing 500 firearms is a bit excessive. But even with our best efforts, this world is unsafe. So… “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7).