Our son Jeff is currently living at the Osho Ashram in Pune India. On Saturday, February 13th a terrorist bomb exploded in the German Bakery, just down the street from his flat. He meets friends there frequently and ate dinner there the night before at the exact time of the attack. Go to http://jeffbarab.wordpress.com/ for his blog description of the explosion and aftermath.The terrorists specifically targeted the German Bakery and Osho Ashram because they attract locals and foreigners alike.
Jeff is 29 years old and backpacking alone around the world for a year. As I reflect on how close we came to losing him, I feel strangely calm. It probably would have taken days without hearing from him for us to become alarmed – weeks to discover his proximity to the German Bakery. That is unless the government identified his remains and gave us a jungle. All in all, a parent’s worst nightmare.
For me this comes down to faith. If I really believe God has a higher purpose for our son (and I do) then I must relax and trust Him. So here we sit, staring blankly, trying to see God’s plan through shattered glass.
Hmmmmm… scary stuff.
This morning Jeff called from the exact opposite side of the world, sounding strong and optimistic – in fact, quite resilient. He is not leaving the ashram; he’s not fleeing the city. He’s continuing on with his unaltered agenda. He intends to write his own version of Eat, Pray, Love one day and this will be just another episode in his adventure.
So what’s the lesson to be learned? For me it is that you can’t live life scared. Sure there are crazy people out there doing mean, cruel things. And maybe one day my number will be punched. But I’m not going to hide in the safety of the known to avoid the risk of the unknown.
To that end, in April Jeff and I will meet up in Tel Aviv to do three weeks in Israel and Turkey – on our own – no tours – no guides – just exploring this mystical region of the world – vulnerable and unsupervised. Wow! Life is good!!!
Till next time…
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