Stolen

This past Monday I received a frantic phone call. Our friends downstairs, Tamy and Steve, were gone for the week, and I had taken their van over to another friend's house last Saturday night. They were going to use the van for a couple of days, but when they woke up, the van was gone!

I think I had left the driver-side door open, and so I made it an easy target. They hot-wired it and they were off. It was a dumb mistake on my part, but something still saddens me when people betray the simple trust we should be able to have in each other. We should be looking out for each other, we should be looking to others interests not only our own. But when something like this happens, it brings home the fact that there is something deeply broken in humanity.

***

Earlier in the week the kids and I had stopped by a local nursery to buy some fall flowers for the church garden. As the kids pulled the cart of flowers out to the car a guy met me in the parking lot. He pointed to a car pulled over on the side of the road, insisted it was out of gas, that he needed a $10 deposit to borrow the gas can from the station on the corner, and a few bucks for some gas. Just a few weeks ago, I helped a lady out that was in a similar situation, and it was all legit. I would hope someone would do the same for me, so I gave him some money and figured he'd walk up to the corner to get some gas. Instead, right in front of me, he gets into the car that's "out of gas", and drives away.

Muttering to myself I load the kids and the flowers into the car. As we head off, I have that same sense of betrayal stewing in my soul.

***

Tonight we were walking down the street with the kids, and Faith was telling Jess all about the guy that stole money from papa the other day. As she got to the end, it became apparent why she was telling this tale. Papa hadn't forgiven the guy that stole the money, he had just gotten mad about it. Her unasked question was, Why do I always have to forgive my brother or friends when they wrong me, but dad didn't have to forgive this man?

When we don't offer forgiveness, something much deeper and something much more important than a car or a few bucks, gets stolen from us. Our peace, our trust in each other, our love for our neighbor, our example to others of the forgiveness Jesus offers, are all taken from us. Jesus told us not to be afraid of the one that can take away our flesh and blood (or our cash and cars), but to be wary of the one that can take away our souls.

May we all be on the lookout for the real thieves, the ones that steal away our souls. And may forgiveness and love in the midst of adversity be our reality.