Risk Management Vs. Luke

Shrewd as Serpents. That is one of many things we Christians are called to be. We are not to be foolish. We are not to throw our lives away wastefully. We are not to wear a T-shirt that with a cartoon representation of Muhammad when we are going to Ahmadinejad’s house for dinner. We are not to hold a King Cobra claiming our lives are in God’s hands and if he wants to strike us down he can do so whether we hold a snake or not, Although if you are doing that, I wouldn’t doubt our maker would take the convenient opportunity to get rid of you. But… We are also called to risk our lives for the gospel. We all know the stories, the Martyrs and the Underground church. We all have a deep respect for martyrs in places like Iran or China, and hold them as the strongest of our faith. We’ve all asked ourselves “Would I deny Christ if I were tortured? Is my faith as weak as Peter’s was that night?” Yet we know in our hearts we will probably not ever be in a situation where the answers to such questions will be tested. My answers are tested in Uganda in a way I didn’t expect. I am a transportation guy. The economics, risks, benefits and disadvantages to different systems of transportation have fascinated me since I wrote a report on air bags in my college technical writing class. So naturally when I observed the needless and foolish risks Ugandan’s take on the road I was both disgusted and terrified. Imagine what the roads would be like if there were no traffic lights, no signs, no stripes and no law enforcement, where if someone is hit by a car, the liability lies on the pedestrian and not the driver, where right of way is determined by the size of your vehicle. It’s madness. Drivers casually swerve into oncoming traffic to pass people. Motorcycles drive anywhere that space exists for them to fit. No one wears a seatbelt. Not only do cars not slow down for pedestrians, they don’t even stop accelerating. If you are hit by a car and survive but cause damage to the car, the driver can take you to court, sue you for the damage you caused to their car, and win. But if the driver hits someone’s goat, they are liable and have to pay a fine. Whenever I am in a car, I am terrified. Although this has a positive effect on my prayer life, my mental health suffers. Adjusting to the transportation system is more difficult for me than any other aspect of Ugandan life. After all, dying in a car accident isn’t martyrdom. It sure would seem like a foolish waste if I died on the streets of Uganda. Or would it? Is living in Uganda and dealing with the transportation system here risking my life for the gospel, or can you only do that with the underground church? Yesterday I read the following verse, and I will end what I have to say here because the verse speaks more powerfully than anything I could write. Needless to say, the words of Jesus changed my perspective. Luke 9:24 "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it."