Rich And Destitute

All I remember is seeing a strange side-by-side turn into the driveway not even 5 minutes after hubs had left the yard. I don’t remember actually putting on my shoes, opening the back door or running across the deck and down the stairs. I don’t recall exactly when I started screaming but it all came into vivid focus when I reached the end of the sidewalk and stopped cold.

The driver stayed in the side-by-side, the passenger jumped onto our quad.

My presence obviously shocked them; they looked at each other with surprise and then back at me before roaring away, gravel spitting and flying from under the tires. The house and yard had probably looked pretty quiet because their theft in broad daylight was so brazen.

Adrenalin was coursing through my body. Even though I couldn’t believe what had just happened, I knew full well what had just happened and it rendered me motionless. I was stuck to the sidewalk. I could hear the thieves driving our quad for what felt like ages in the calm, clear morning air and I was furious!

I called hubs and he called the cops.

When I finally could move, I couldn’t stop. I was pacing and crying, shaking and terrified that they had cased our place and knew exactly when hubs normally left the yard in the morning. What would I do when they came back next time?

Next time…well I won’t go into detail but suffice to say I prepared myself to hang a world of hurt on them if I ever saw them again, yes, all 5′ 2″ of me.

I felt altered. My reality felt like a dream beforehand and like a nightmare afterwards.

and then…

A couple of mornings later I was sitting with my Bible & journal, beside me steam was gently rising from my first cup of coffee when the Lord decided it was time to teach me an important lesson.

Luke 6:27-36 just happened to be the verses I was reading that day (head over to your Bible and check them out).

Come On. The irony. The nerve!! I had a right to get even, I rationalized. I definitely had not prayed for those two. I had bad words marching around in my head and they had also marched right out of my mouth. They stole from us!

But isn’t that the crux of the matter? It’s just stuff.

a heart matter…

The verses in Luke chapter 6 allude to a response that wells up from a heart that has it’s priorities in the right place. A heart that is secure knowing that God is in control of everything. Every.Single.Thing. A heart that understands that nothing actually belongs to us at all, we are stewarding the Lord’s resources. A heart that doesn’t elevate stuff over the Savior.

Ouch.

Luke 6:32 says “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” How on earth was I supposed to love those 2 thieves? I did the only thing I could, I started praying for them and as I did I became sad and heartbroken over their situation. I felt pain thinking of the events in life that had lead them down our driveway that morning. I asked God to have mercy on them and bring people into their lives who would share Jesus with them so they would feel valued and loved.

I put down my pretend rocks and imaginary sticks. Verse 27 starts off saying “But I say to you who hear…” because it’s so easy not to listen. It’s so easy to be rich materially and destitute spiritually, to forget the power that love has in a lost and very broken world. Sometimes the lesson is best taught as it drives away with 2 strangers.