Nicole D. Hayes, Founder, Voices Against the Grain

I’ve never been a bandwagon person. I like the freedom of not being hitched to things that if you give it time and sit back long enough the flawed agendas and limitations are revealed. I know that eventually, the wheels will fall off.

I realize that when life is unjust and out of control some people need something to get behind when trying to restore justice, morals and order to our disorderly world; to invigorate hope in the hearts of those who despair over what they see; an attempt to right the ship that is on the brink of sinking. Movements. Initiatives. Hashtags. Campaign themes. Black Lives Matter (an extremely progressive, un-Christian agenda, socialist leaning–I’ll need to write a separate article to unpack this properly). Make America Great Again (For who and from what period??). #MeToo. Just to name a few from a very lengthy list. I’ve worked in public relations for more than 14 years. I know a little something about how such communications strategies and tactics are supposed to help change behaviors and move the dial toward better outcomes. Some of them have really good intentions and aspirations. They simply fall short as they are often rooted in the world’s philosophy of “make it sound good as we seek to do good without God.”

Movements, initiatives, campaign themes and hashtags strive to create a unified body and voice to advance a collective response on a particular issue. Some people shelter in these spaces, certain that getting behind them, getting on board, being part of the bandwagon will indeed make the world as it should be.

As I said, I’ve never been a bandwagon person. Therefore, I have chosen to shelter in place.

The term “shelter in place” has been used more frequently and most recently as local, state and national leaders seek to mitigate the spread and devastation of  SARS-CoV-2 (I’m calling it by its actual name), or COVID-19, a novelle coronavirus that originated in 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China becoming a global pandemic. That is one way and a good way to use the term. However, for the purposes of this article, I will reference the description for “shelter in place” provided by Wikipedia: “Shelter in place is the act of seeking safety within the building one already occupies, rather than evacuating the area or seeking a community emergency shelter.”

Let that definition sit with you for a moment.

I found the Wikipedia definition fitting–only secondary to the best one offered to us in God’s Word from Psalm 91:1-2, 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.

For those of us who say we follow Christ, that we trust in the Lord, that HE is the anchor of our soul (Hebrews 6:19), we need not leave that “house” or that “shelter” to seek other shelter. He is our refuge and our fortress. We can either shelter in/abide in the Lord, shelter in His Word, which is indeed our surest security or we can get behind the lying “prophets” of such movements, initiatives and hashtags who offer a false hope. As Believers, as carriers of the gospel message, God has authorized us to tell the world what is the way to perfect justice, what is perfect peace, what is perfect and godly wisdom, what is true restoration, reconciliation and healing from brokenness and lawlessness. We don’t look to the world to define that for us.

Someday, God will make everything new. Things will be as they should. Until then, keep your hand to the plow, work while it is day, cling unswervingly to the hope you have in Christ, tell others about Him and shelter in place/abide in Him.

Love and God bless you,

Nicole