This past week, I’ve been asked numerous times if I thought it was still safe to go to Uganda in light of the Nairobi mall shootings.  A couple of things that have come to my mind as I’ve pondered this question this week include:  we are not safe from this type of terrorism here in the U.S. and the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.

The attack was carried out by Al-Shabab, an armed Somali Islamic extremist group.  Al-Shabab had threatened retaliation against Kenya for sending its troops into Somalia against al-Shabab, and many of those killed in an attack that horrified the world were Kenyans. Asked if al-Shabab had intended to kill foreigners, the group said “our target was to attack the Kenyan govt on it’s soil and any part of the Kenyan territory is a legitimate target … and Kenya should be held responsible for the loss of life, whether foreigners or local”.

Uganda has also been involved in Somalia by sending 5,700 soldiers to Kenya to fight al-Shabab.  In July 2010, a double suicide bombing in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, killed 76 people who were watching the football World Cup final on television.  It is widely believed that the attack was in retaliation for Uganda’s involvement in Somalia.

The US is also assisting in the fight against the extremists.  The Obama administration earlier this year expanded its secret war in Somalia, stepping up assistance for federal and regional Somali intelligence agencies that are allied against the country’s Islamist insurgency.  What is to keep al-Shabab from retaliating against citizens in the U.S.?  U.S. officials estimate that as many as 50 Americans have been recruited to al-Shabab in the past six years, with more than half traced back to Minnesota’s growing Somali community.

We have also had terroristic shooting attacks in the U.S. lately including shootings in supposedly secure locations including at the Washington Navy Yard and at Ft. Hood.  Americans are not safe even on U.S. soil.  My mother-in-law has a stock answer that she gives when people ask her if she is ok with Vanessa’s safety in Uganda.  She tells them that if you asked her on September 10, 2001 if Vanessa would be safer the next morning in Jinja, Uganda or in the World Trade Center in New York and she would say New York without a shadow of a doubt.

So this begs the question, are we safe anywhere?  I truly believe that the safest place we can be is in the center of God’s will.  God has given each one of us a purpose and specific work to accomplish for him. As long as we’re doing our best to follow his plan for our life, we don’t need to worry about our safety. Nothing and no one on the earth can successfully interfere with God’s purposes.  We can read where Jesus teaches the disciples this lesson in John 11:1-16.  In this story the disciples attempt to keep Jesus from going back to Bethany to resurrect Lazarus due to the fact that the Jews were seeking to stone Jesus there.  Jesus knew that God’s will for his life was to be crucified so he didn’t need to worry about the Jews because no harm would come to him until he carried out God’s plan for His life.  I feel like God’s will for my life is to move my family to Uganda and do His work.  I feel like I would be in more danger if I do not follow God’s will for my life.  In verse 10 of this passage, Jesus says, “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”  I choose to do what Jesus says in verse 9, “If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world”

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