WWJD....Splash #2

Well as you may have read back on Jully 11th the church that I serve was broken into. Our “friends” came back and broke into the church a second time on August 1st, and did considerably more damage this time, ripping speakers out of the sanctuary walls kicking in doors and frames and stealing sound equipment. I got a call from the 911 operator at 4am on the 1st asking if I was the pastor of the church and that there had been a burglery reported. The police dog was indicating that there was still someone in the building and they wanted my authorization to enter the building (at least thats what I think they waned, while I was trying to gather my thoughts and witts at 4am after being awoke by the phone) By the time I got to the church they already had the “suspect” (and i use the word loosly, since he was arrested walking out of the building with $900 worth of microphones and sound equipment in his back pack) anyway his accomplises seemed to have gotten away.

To make a long story short I identified the equipment layed out across the trunk of the squad care and side walk that they retrieved from the back pack and then walked to the side of the car to get a look at the fellow who blessed us in such a mannor. He looked a little familiar but didn’t ring a bell with me. As i walked through the building with the deputy examining the damage it dawned on me who the person was. I was a homeless man that we had helped for about 4 months last summer and fall until he dissapeared named Ted. I asked the deputy if the Guy in the car’s name was ted and he said yes. I’ll just say it was a good thing he was in the back of a locked squad car at that point.

This is a guy whom I brought blankets to at 11pm and checked on every night to make sure he was safe and warm. I helped him look for jobs got him food, and gave him my lunch. When members of the congregation were uneasy about a homeless guy being around church that long I and a few other fought the battle to continue to help him. This was the thanks we got. Thanks Ted for the damge to the building. For the frantic day of trying to get things repaired so that we wouldn’t have to turn 50 kids away when they came for the second nite of Vacation Bible school. Thanks for making it all the more dificult to help people who find themselves on the street. Thanks for making me not want to help them much anymore. Thanks for making my birthday so special by spending the morning speaking with the insurance adjuster (who by the way is an incredibly nice woman and a huge help, thanks Mary!).... Ok I think thats enough venting for one day.

Ok here is the kicker, the scripture the kids memorized tonite for VBS was ... (your already ahead of me I know.. ) 1 Corinthians 13: 5-6 “love is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs...” I wholeheartedly admit I’m not to 1 cor 13 yet in fact it might be a while, I’m still kinda in Amos looking through those “woe to you evildoers” passages. I’m really having a difficult time with this whole thing to tell you the truth. In fact I’m feeling the exact opposite of Love and commpasion and I don’t like it. In fact writing it out here is good for me, but I really need some peace at this point