This has been a weird week. It may have actually begun last Friday. We got word that someone had broken into only ONE of the sheds on the church property, which just happened to be the one with backpack leaf blowers and weed eaters, and fuel cans; all gone. It also happens to be the only one of our three storage sheds that isn’t obviously visible on the security system (which we are working to remedy). So, Tyler, Jonathon and myself spent hours, and money the church doesn’t have, moving cameras, running cable, waterproofing connections and other things to begin to address the issue. New locks that can’t be cut went on the door and we dove into the weekend.
Then, Tuesday night, Lloyd checked the sheds again and the same shed was broken into. This time, they just tore all of the locking hardware off. We don’t really think there was much left in there to steal so, maybe they won’t be back. But, that meant another day, today, where the entire morning was spent running additional cables, pointing cameras in new directions and, again, spending money we don’t have. To say I was irritated would be an understatement. I was grinding my teeth, swearing under my breath (and maybe a little bit on top of my breath), and walking about in a cloud of moodiness.
In between those two thefts, I spent time with family, enjoyed church with the C3AK family on a very icy Sunday, and spent Monday and Tuesday at the Alaska Baptist Convention with the Executive Board; my first as President of the convention. The meetings went very well, good work was done, and efforts to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ around Alaska were given some serious assistance.
Later today, after we realized we needed other supplies (more money) and had shut down the work on security cameras for the day, I turned my attention to this Sunday’s upcoming message. As he does most weeks, Jason had asked me what to put on the big sign as an advertisement for this Sunday. For the month of November, we’ve been posting the final segment of a phrase that says something like “God wants us to be thankful for…”
Week one was “suffering”. Week two was “the church”. This week, I asked Jason to add a single word: YOU
It’s a double meaning effort because I know I’m going to speak about how thankful I am for you, the people of C3AK> But, to all those who drive by our place who aren’t part of C3AK, it’s a message that tells them I (we) care about “them”. Who knows, maybe someone will see it and come inside this Sunday to see if it’s true? Maybe the person who stole our stuff will see it, and it will plant a seed that changes the course of their life.
I’d like to say the realization of those things made me feel better about spending money we don’t have, and time we don’t have, to address someone else’s terrible dishonesty and sin against our church. But, it mostly didn’t.
That, however, doesn’t change the fact it’s a true statement. I am thankful for YOU, and THEM.