“Gettysburg” the 1993 movie by Ronald F Maxwell, is surely my favorite movie of all time. I have watched it several times and own more than one DVD copy of it! One of my 200 or so favorite scenes takes place just before “Pickets Charge” on the last day of the Battle, July 3^rd, 1863. In that scene, General Lewis A. Armistead is preparing his Virginians to step out onto the open ground and form up for a nearly 2 mile march against the Federal lines on Cemetery Ridge.

The men are being pelted with cannon fire and shrapnel is falling all around them. Some of the men are moving from tree to tree to find the safest possible place. General Armistead then utters the famous line, “Steady men. There is no safe place here. One place is as good as another.”

He was absolutely right. There was no safe place there; and, as the events of yesterday have again proven, there is no safe place here either.

We struggle to make sense out of a senseless act. We seek to find safety in the face of a completely unexpected attack on innocent people who were either participating in, or watching, the 2013 Boston Marathon. Only time will tell the final toll of this attack, but as I am writing this morning there are three confirmed dead and one-hundred and forty-seven injured. Many of those injured are seriously injured, and one of the dead is an eight year old boy.

As Christians, we understand that we live in a fallen and broken world. Adam’s sin touched every human and the very earth on which we live.

This is a dangerous and deadly place. There is no safe place here.

Every day that we get out of bed we realize we may never get back into that bed again. Every time we get into our car, or an airplane, or a piece of equipment we realize that we may not live to get out of it again. Accidents, criminal acts, and the weakness of our physical body all conspire against us to keep us from ever really being safe in this world.

On a personal note as a Pastor, I read a book by a man who is one of the greatest – if not “the” – greatest pastor of all time, Richard Baxter (1615-1691) where he wrote, “I preach as a dying man to dying men; and never sure to preach again.” That is great advice and advice of which I often think!

The painful truth is that none of us know how long the Lord will allow us to live in this world. While health care is dramatically improving – as I am living proof – many people still die as children, teens, and young adults. We just do not know how long we will live.

I am writing this morning because I love you and I want to say to you, “There is no safe place here!” Not in your home, your car, at work, or at play. Over the past few years, we have read of people being killed while attending a service at their church.

All we can do – and must do – is be ready to meet the Lord. Repent, believe, and (if you are saved) live in such a way that will bring honor to the Lord. The next face you see may be His; the next voice you hear may be His; the next step you take may be on streets of gold.

“Prepare to meet your God…” Amos 4:12 There is no safe place here.