The Robbery

Yesterday I witnessed a robbery. It wasn't violent with guns drawn, but rather fast and abrasive. I was entering the Dillards of our local mall, when a man and woman came smashing through the door with arms full of loot. They barreled over my children who were sauntering ahead of me, which is what got my attention to begin with. As they plowed down my girls, I noticed the arms full of purses, nice, expensive purses and the man who was waiting just outside the door to whisk them away.

I was with a girlfriend at the time, and the two of us stood in silence for a moment, stunned by what we had just seen, feelings of helplessness and violation lapping over us. We walked inside the store to see a bare shelf that was previously occupied by these lavish brand name purses, the security chain that had held them, cut and dangling over the edge.

We alerted store clerk to what we had just seen, which brought stunned faces, slight confusion and anger, and calls to security. But my heart was broken, and remains to be, over the despair that I saw.

What would drive a person to such desperation, such stupidity, as to rip off bags like that? Such selfishness, such lack of care for humanity, such depravity and brokenness.

As I said yesterday though, you just never know the journey a person is on, or how they got on it. What you can know about an incident such as this is that a person is broken and desperate to be driven to such selfish choices. They have bought a lie and are believing the enemy for a victory, on which he can never deliver.

Scripture says that the thief has come only to steal, kill and destroy. This is the only thing on which the Thief can deliver. But Jesus...

Oh how I love that phrase. That, in and of itself is enough.

But Jesus...

He comes that we may have life, and have it to the full.

But Jesus...

He can deliver on His promises.

But Jesus...

With Him it's different. There is hope in the most hopeless of situations and circumstances. It doesn't make sense and it may seem like over-simplified Christianese. But He brings hope.

Or maybe it's the peace that from letting go and trusting Him. No need to worry; the Savior's got this.

Or maybe it's the comfort that comes from knowing that in the end, the right path that we choose today for His Name's sake will all be worth it.

See, He delivers on His promises. The Thief, though, doesn't have a leg to stand on. And so he kills and destroys, and leads folks to believe that they need to steal some bags for who knows what reason.

Oh, but if they knew Jesus...He changes everything.