Real Hope: Finding ShelterSample

Safely 'In Christ'

As a young Christian, I had the opportunity and privilege of being in a church that sang ‘choruses’ or ‘Scripture in Song’. The result of this continual repetitive singing is that now, 50 years later, my mind and spirit are filled with the Word of God and worship. The verse above was one of those incessant tunes, words, and inspirations. It became my ‘God send’ when in the early 1990s we moved to Bangkok as missionaries. In what is a ‘long-story-short’ I ended up in a foreign country, and culture, speaking a foreign language, where everything was new and different and just as we were settling in we sent our two eldest children back to Brisbane for study.  

The outcome of all of this was that sometimes I would wake with a start in the middle of the night asking myself – ‘where was I and where was my family’. And before I could logically think through what we were doing in Thailand I would assure myself that ‘I was in Christ, my strong tower, and safe from whatever.' 

So if I faced a bumpy plane ride back and forth to Australia or interpersonal relationship difficulties or tasks beyond my skill or experience levels, I would say to myself that although I was in a difficult place I was actually safely ‘in Christ’. This default mindset or heart-set was not an excuse for being ‘in denial' but rather another way of doing what Paul writing to the Colossians (1:1–2) says: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, … Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

I invite you on this journey of making Jesus Christ your shelter or ‘go-to’ response to any challenge you are facing now or in the future.

written by JOHN SCOTT