I just got back from a missions trip to Costa Rica, where we primarily painted a church building both inside and out.

This was my second time to minister in this country, and both times on our day to see the sights we went to a national park near the beach, where we had lunch and both times had to keep our food secure.

During my first trip, there were several raccoons that came down to the beach area and actually played tug-a-war with folks over their food packs.

This trip it was the monkeys that grabbed containers that housed food and took them into the trees. These animals are smart and can even open up coolers and get into them.

This reminded me of how, in so many ways, life is full of insecurities. While we were on our trip we had no guarantee we wouldn’t get sick (by the way, a couple of our group did.) We had no guarantee we wouldn’t get involved in a car or plane crash. We had no guarantee we wouldn’t be robbed or stolen from (by humans), even being in a pretty safe environment.

It also reminded me that even though our possessions and our life can be taken away, there is something that the Bible reminds us that no one can take from us - our relationship with God.

In John 10:28 and 29, Jesus tells us that “no one will snatch them (his true followers) out of my hand,” and “no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

In this passage of scripture we are told that those who listen to the voice of Jesus, and continually follow him will have eternal life and will never perish.

We can know that if we died today that we would end up in heaven, and this is security.

This security is available to anyone and everyone who will establish a relationship with God by choosing to be a follower of his Son Jesus.