Refuge Under His Wings

Hello, 

A friend sent me a reflection on Psalm 91 about refuge under God's 'wings' [from pestilence, among other things].  He was responding to my previous post about the pests in my house when I got back to LAMB.  I am a little called out, being reminded of how truly minor are the issues of pests, compared to other struggles. (By the way, I have now decided it probably isn't a mouse, but some other creature in my bookshelf, but haven't unpacked the shelves to find out yet--I just listen to it chewing on my books every night as I fall asleep.) 

Honestly what I thought about more when I read Ps 91, was how I feel protective about Bengali Christian brothers and sisters.  While it is good to provide some shelter as young believers grow in spiritual maturity and professional capacity,  really, it is God who shelters, not (potentially paternalistic) me.  

We struggle as foreigners here to really allow a 'Bengali' way to emerge for character and processes of this organization, which has had strong 'Western' influence.  Somehow we hope for a 'Third' way, embracing some Western best practices as well as Bengali ways.  But really we need to better explore God's way--and how that is best expressed here.  Please pray as our mixed national/foreign management team works through the struggles with that (though we have nonChristian staff, the management team is all Christian). 

Yesterday's management/policy meeting was a good example;  we were discussing a child and vulnerable adult protection policy.  It includes provision against employment of children <18 .="" nbsp="">One contentious issue is how to address the common practice of having a 'kajer meye' or 'working girl.' (not what you think!)  Many Bangladeshis have a young girl, often 8 -11 yrs. old when first brought into the home, who is something like a 'maid of all work.'  Sometimes they will help with child care, basic cooking tasks, washing clothes, etc., paid in kind with food, clothing, and shelter.  They are also just present in the homestead when everyone else is away to discourage bandits from coming in and stealing clothes or household goods (as happened to my household cook who didn't have a 'kajer meye' at the time).  

LAMB wants to state in its policy the reason for discouraging such a practice: so those girls can go to school and have better future prospects.  But Bangladeshis counter that the practice is actually similar to a vulnerable child protection system.  The girls are often daughters of poorer relatives who would not be going to school if in their own family home, and would likely not be getting much food or clothes or protection anyway (can be at risk for abuse from uncles, as extended families usually live in one household).  So if LAMB prevents our staff from 'employing' and caring for kajer meye, who are also just poor girls from the neighborhood, we are potentially increasing their vulnerability.  How to make sense of similar goals (a better future for the girls) but different methods to achieve the goals?? 

And on the home in American front: Dad and some family lit a candle for Mom in an All Soul's remembrance mass in Minster Nov. 2 night.  Today (Nov. 3) Dad has chemo again, after a short break.  Please pray he tolerates it well, and his lungs stay in good shape.  So many at LAMB have been telling me how much they have prayed for Mom and Dad and our family over the last couple of years, and I know not just at LAMB, so thank you...

Shelter under God's wings of refuge protects us from so much more than pests!   We trust in God's faithfulness as he "is with us in trouble" (v. 15) even as we dwell "in the shelter of the Most High."Amen and amen.

Psalm 91

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

    my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you

    from the fowler’s snare

    and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;

    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night,

    nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

    nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

    ten thousand at your right hand,

    but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes

    and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”

    and you make the Most High your dwelling,

10 no harm will overtake you,

    no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

    to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;

    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;

    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;

    I will be with him in trouble,

    I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him

    and show him my salvation.”