A friend of mine is planning a trip to Israel next spring. I told him it would be a good idea to take out trip insurance. The Middle East is always a volatile place, and you never know when a skirmish could erupt into a war—canceling all tourist travel. What I am reading of late shows trip insurance might be wise.

Iran is getting closer to having a viable nuclear weapon capable of reaching Israel and Western nations. Negotiations to curb Iran's project are proving fruitless. Iran is steadily advancing to the day it will become a nuclear power. This day is coming, probably sooner rather than later.

The nation of Israel knows that when this day arrives, their existence is in grave danger. Iran has threatened to wipe the Jewish state from the face of the earth, and Israel believes Iran means what it says.

The question is, Will Israel take preemptive military action to destroy Iran's nuclear production capacity? The Israeli air force took such action once before when it attacked an Iraqi facility suspected of building a nuclear bomb. The Israelis have shown the will before. Whether they have the sustained ability is another issue.

There is one power that does have the ability to wipe out the Iranian facilities. It is the United States of America. A few days of shock-and-awe bombing like that unleashed on Iraq in 2003 could do the job. Does America have the will to attack Iran? Many suspect it doesn't.

So, if diplomatic talk fails, and it appears it will, then Israel could feel it has no choice but to launch an attack to preserve its existence. The results would be catastrophic. Iran would launch terrorist attacks on Western targets and possibly hinder the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. The impact on the world economy, still struggling to come out of recession, would be significant.

All this could occur next spring, which is why I told my friend it would be a good idea to take out trip insurance in case his long-awaited journey is called off. It would be nice if we could take out insurance policies to guard against every risk and contingency in our dangerous and complicated world. But we can't. All the reports indicate a dangerous road imminently ahead for the Middle East.

Is there another type of "insurance" we can procure for the dangerous times that lie ahead? Yes, there is, but it is not underwritten by any mortal agency. Jesus Christ indicated that the only available refuge would be provided by understanding what is coming and making sure our lives are aligned with God's way of life.

Luke 19 records Jesus' words as He approached the city of Jerusalem. "Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation'" (verses 41-44).

We can know the things that make for our "peace" in this, our "time of visitation." They are revealed through the teachings of Christ. God can be as near as your next prayer. It is the best form of "insurance" we can take out during our journey in this life. WNP