I Have No Place to Go

I was watching the sad story out of Colorado on Sunday regarding the wildfire that is consuming thousands of acres in the northern part of that state. Evidently, there is some development in the area where the fires are burning, and several people have lost homes and buildings to a fire that moves at times as fast as 40 feet per second. The situation is dangerous for those living there as well as those fighting the fires.
One or two people who had been affected by the fire were recorded on camera talking about their loss. I was particularly struck by one woman who appeared to be about my age who was telling the photojournalist that she lost her house, then said, “I have no place to go.”
Think about that for a moment. No place to go. Now, she may have been exaggerating somewhat and may, upon reflection, truly had a place to go that night. But there is a real chance that she truly had no place to go. No family. No friends. No church. No place to go.
Most of us don’t live life that way. We cultivate relationships. We have family. We have friends. We have a church family that loves and cares for us. We are blessed with people in our lives who will look after us in some kind of tragic situation such as losing a home. But there are many people who have no one to turn to. There is no one they are close enough to that they can ask for help, or that would offer them help. They have no church, so they have no church family. They either have no family, or they have ostracized their family to the point that no one is willing to help them. They truly are alone.
And as long as things are going along OK…they remain healthy…the money keeps coming in…the job is steady…the weather cooperates…they can do OK. But when there’s a hiccup in the way of things and they suddenly have a giant in their lives that demands more than they have to give, things cave in. The hole gets deeper. The light gets fainter.
I wonder if this woman really had no place to go. If true, she is a sad and tragic example of what happens when we think we can go it alone…when we can do it ourselves…when we have need of no one. The last verse of the song “I am a Rock” by Simon and Garfunkel catches the reality of the sadness.
“I have my books And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor, Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock, I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.”