The Break In

I wrote this post a few months ago after our house was broken into (it was a very full summer!) so here are some insights into what we learned and experienced:

Back in June our house was broken into and quite a few things were stolen.  Yep, it happened.  It happened here in Compton, and it happens everywhere. 

It was pretty shocking when I came home and realized what had occurred (and that Lokey had been inside the whole time… guard dog what?!) and we were pretty shaken up for a few days.  The police were called and took a report.  I asked a few neighbors if they had seen anything, no one did.  Our pastor came over immediately and helped board up the broken window.  Two neighbors came over for a while and talked with us.  They shared things we could do to keep the house safer, and also gave us their opinions of who could have done it.

A few days later as I was walking Lokey around the block, one of these same neighbors stopped to talk for a bit.  He asked if we had heard anything from the police.  I told him that we hadn’t, and that we probably never would and that was OK.  His response to me, “No, it’s not OK, because I live here too.”

His response hit me for a moment.  That statement was one of our own reasons for moving to the city.  We intentionally decided to move in to this neighborhood knowing the problems and difficulties, so that instead of standing on the outside looking in, we would be able to say “No this is not OK, because we live here too” and have a vested interest in what occurs in this community.  Now this neighbor was sharing this same sentiment with me—black man to white woman, older to younger, generations and cultures apart.  And I was thankful.  Thankful that this neighbor cared enough to make my problems his too. Sometimes God shows up before us, making a way, creating community that we have not worked for or deserve. Grace.

There were many other ways that God seemed to be preparing us for this occurrence.  Chris and I had previously spoken of needing a new laptop and guitar, both of which were stolen, and due to insurance we can replace them (bonus to a break in is having insurance).  Two days before the break in I had been sitting in the room where they broke the window and felt an urge to pray for the safety of the house and particularly that room.  I thank God that he had prepared my heart.  Three days before the break in, Chris randomly decided to put a lock on a word document that contained all of his passwords.  Grace.

While God did not stop the break in from occurring, he prepared us for it and even blessed us in the midst of it, in multiple ways. And isn’t that the same story all through the Bible?  Grace in suffering, joy in sorrow, hope in trials.  This journey of following Jesus is not promised to be easy, in fact quite the opposite is promised. But God is with us, blessing us along the way.

One of my favorite quotes sums it up… “Hope is not resurrection in isolation from the cross; it is resurrection made necessary and possible by the cross. Hope is not a utopian future unrelated to the vagaries of the past and the ambiguities of the present; it is a future in which God redeems history, establishes justice, and brings peace. Hope is not a wholeness unacquainted with brokenness; it is brokenness made whole by grace. Authentic hope is always paradoxical: embodied by the risen, but eternally scarred, Jesus.”   -Guy Sayles