Polar Bear One Another's Burdens
Perhaps you've seen the many social media posts (on Facebook, Instagram, etc), claiming that it is illegal to lock your car doors in the town of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. But is it true? Well, yes and no ...
“There is no current law in place in Churchill that requires residents to not lock their vehicle doors,” Paul Manaigre, a spokesman for the RCMP in Manitoba, the province that Churchill belongs to, told AFP by email.
But the claim is grounded in some truth. Churchill, population 900, is known for frequent polar bear visits when the ice on the nearby Hudson Bay melts in the warmer months.
According to Manaigre, “It is common knowledge that polar bears may enter the community at any time, and those that may need to seek shelter from a polar bear can use a vehicle, as most people will leave them unlocked for this purpose.”
“It’s just a common practice to leave your doors open. I never lock my car doors in my personal vehicle,” Erica Gillis, a research technician at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, told AFP.
She explained that this custom is partly due to the polar bear threat, but also because Churchill is a remote, isolated community not accessible by road. “There aren’t many roads other than the main street,” Gillis added.
There is an estimated population of 935 polar bears in the western Hudson Bay area, where Churchill sits. As a response to the frequent bear visits, the town established a polar bear alert program. A team tranquilizes the animals if they enter town and takes them to a polar bear holding center, known by locals as the polar bear jail.
Thanks to the program, the Manitoba town has not had a bear-related fatality since the early 1980s.
The comments on the social pages range from disbelief and fear, to fancy and sarcasim. But the comment that seemed to jump off the page ...
Now THAT'S community!
Indeed, that IS community: A tight knit group of people, all looking out for one another, intentionally making provision for one another's refuge and safety. My car is your car. In this village, in this community, we protect and care for one another.
Appropriately and ironically, this little town is call "CHURCHill" (wink), where they collectively "bear" one another's burdens.
In our wild and unruly world where all manner of "bears" are seemingly out to get us, the church is called to be that village where the doors of refuge are always unlocked, waiting to welcome us in to help us stand against the lurking dangers. Now THAT'S community!
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2, ESV).
"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others, (Philippians 2:4, ESV).
"Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor," (1 Corinthians 10:24, ESV).
"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God," (Hebrews 13:16, ESV).
Her Closet Was Her Refuge
42-year-old Sefa Cebeci was with her husband in a seven-story building in Duzce, Turkey, when just before 7:00 P.M. local time on November 12, 1999, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook the city. The building collapsed, and when all was said and done nearly 1,000 people were dead—including Sefa’s husband who was right beside her.
Despite rescue team leaders from some countries calling off the search for survivors after three days, an Israeli team pulled her from the rubble after nearly 5 days without food and water. She would have to have an arm amputated and her kidney failure from dehydration nearly killed her.
She was able to survive in freezing temperatures for 105 hours under tons of concrete. How? A closet fell on top of her and protected her from her collapsed house. Her closet became her refuge.
Of course, Jesus exhorted us to “enter into thy closet” to pray, rather make a vain, public show of ourselves (cf. Matthew. 6:6, KJV). The word “closet,” variously translated “inner room,” “your room,” “private room,” and “inner chamber” is translated “storehouse” or “warehouse” (Luke 12:24; Matthew. 24:26), and also “bedroom” or “chamber” (Genesis 43:30; 2 Kings 6:12; Zodhiates, Spiros). It refers to any place of privacy where one cannot be easily seen.
If we are to survive the challenges of life, we must seek refuge in our prayer closet. The peace and strength we find there will prepare us for every kind of calamity.
Strive To Find Rest
Jon Hamilton, with NPR, reports:
When you sleep in unfamiliar surroundings, only half your brain is getting a good night's rest.
"The left side seems to be more awake than the right side," says Yuka Sasaki, an associate professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown University.
The finding, reported Thursday in the journal Current Biology, helps explain why people tend to feel tired after sleeping in a new place.
... Sleep researchers discovered the "first-night effect" decades ago, when they began studying people in sleep labs. The first night in a lab, a person's sleep is usually so bad that researchers simply toss out any data they collect.
Vigilance is important but so is rest. We must not give up rest to be vigilant, but must learn, especially in threatening times, to pursue both. Even Jesus, at the height of his ministry, took the time to slip away to the mountains.
Not even the need to be vigilant overrides our need to find rest in God.
“So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall” (Hebrews 4:11).
"After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone" (Matthew 14:23).