War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

This whole war thing is getting really old. I have to tell you, the buzz around the office at work is getting to be too much. There is news all the time about this silly conflict between North Korea and THE WORLD (especially South Korea) and it's a constant guessing game as to what we should take seriously. Teachers are comforting other teachers, sharing websites with new information about North Korea's latest threats, and inside I find myself wondering how I should react?

Yesterday North Korea made a specific, and personal threat towards foreigners in South Korea. We were told we needed to get out of the country as we do not want to be made a casualty of a conflict that is not our own. Well this news did not sit well with me at first. I didn't know how to digest something that felt so personal. I kept having the looming thought of, 'What if I was warned and didn't leave when I was told, and they made good on their threats?' All of my Korean coworkers are not worried and almost seem to grin when these conversations come up between us foreign teachers. But in almost every one of our eyes there is a flash of panic, a need for security, then comfort, and then it passes. We are walking around the halls saying, 'What do you think of this?' and wondering how we ever got into a situation of war in the first place.

Have I ever wondered if a missile would be shot in the direction of my city? No. But that doesn't mean it never could have happened. I mean, 9/11 could have happened in any state or some other great tragedy could someday hit closer to home. I logically know this, but emotionally have never felt it before.

I signed up for alerts from the US Embassy who says that there is no security threat at this time and if this changes I will be notified. I have complete faith in the Embassy and know that if there is an emergency they will come and find me. I mean, we see so many American soldiers walking around Itaewon every week that one of them would probably come and pick me up and drive me personally to the airport, right? The more I chat with girlfriends about this the more they reassure me that we would be taken care of if there is an evacuation. I've just never had to think of things like this, so it seems so unreal and so unfamiliar to me. I have faith in our military and the US Embassy.....most of the time, but when it comes to depending on people, I can't help but have my doubts.

One thing I don't doubt though is God. So instead of putting my faith in people, I will put my faith in this:

"Just as a 3-year-old girl in the middle of a swimming pool can feel in over her head, at various points in our lives, all of us feel we're getting 'out of our depth' or 'in over our heads.' But the reality is that without God, we are always in over our heads. When things go wrong in our lives, or something unexpected happens, we often panic because we feel we've lost control. But think about it- just like the child in the pool, the truth is we've never been in control when it comes to life's most crucial moments. We've always been held up by the grace of God, and that won't change. God is never out of His depth, and therefore we're as safe when we're in life's 'deep end' as we were in the kiddie pool."

Matthew 6:27,34 : "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?....Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." ( ain't that the truth!)

So I'm going to keep on swimming in the deep end, here is South Korea, and stop worrying about the day's ahead. I'm going to book my trip to Jeju for May, find a fabulous place to go for my summer vacation, and keep planning my 'trip of a lifetime' to travel around Asia in September.

Lord, I'm glad that I am safe in Your arms, even when I feel I'm in over my head. Hold me by Your grace. Amen.