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Chapter-a-Day

Casing the Joint

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Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.Nothing will be left, says the Lord.
Isaiah 39:5-6 (NIV)

Over the past handful of years, I’ve twice had the experience of being robbed. Thieves broke into our house at the lake and took a lot of things with them. Then my hotel room was robbed while on a business trip and the thieves got away with a lot of my electronic gear.

I learned in being robbed that some things are easily replaced. Televisions, computers, and electronic gear can be quickly acquired, set up and functioning as normal. The things that I still think about are personal items with sentimental value; The things that can’t be quantified for your insurance company.

As I read in today’s chapter about Hezekiah showing the Babylonian envoys all the treasures of his kingdom, I just knew in my gut that this was not going to end well. Perhaps being victimized has made me a tad more cynical, but I didn’t need Isaiah’s prophetic word to know the dudes were essentially casing the joint.

I’m reminded this morning of Jesus words:

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”

This morning I’m thinking about the difference between possessions and treasures. The further I get in my journey the greater desire I feel to rid myself of the former and be more discerning in my definition of the latter. I’m thinking it might be time for me to case my own joint, with an eye towards emptying what is unnecessary, unimportant, and not useful. One of the quotes that has stuck with me through adulthood comes from the artist and designer William Morris: “Do not have anything in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

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Chapter-a-Day

No Honor Among Thieves

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Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. But God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem; and the lords of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.
Judges 9:22-23 (NRSV)

I have, of late, been enjoying watching Shakespeare’s Henry IV both parts 1 and 2, starring Tom Hiddleston (who played Loki in Marvel’s Thor movies) as the young prince Henry V. The teenaged heir to the crown has a troubled relationship with his father (King Henry IV, played by Jeremy Irons), and chooses to rebel from his royal life and slum around a seedy area of London known as Eastcheap.

There, in a tavern, young prince Henry (known as “Harry” or “Hal”) parties hard and incessant with a fat, licentious fool of an old knight named Sir John Falstaff. Harry, Falstaff and a band of rogues revel in drunkenness and all around dishonest mischief – sometimes enjoying a dishonest turn against one another. Harry’s friend, Poins, steals Falstaff’s horse from him, causing the old fool to quip, “It stinks when there is no honor among thieves.”

There is no honor among thieves.

That line came to mind when I read in this morning’s chapter about Abimelech’s treachery against his brothers and his grab for power. Not to question the validity of “God sending an evil spirit,” but I wonder if that spirit found it easy work to stir up trouble between Abimelech and his co-conspiritors. There being no honor among thieves, those who deal in treachery and dishonest gain tend to breed conflict and mistrust among their own.

This morning I am reminded of the simple wisdom of keeping good company. When we surround ourselves with those who seek truth, peace, joy, and love then we tend to find our lives rewarded with the fruit of our corporate longing. Young Henry learned this lesson in time. He eventually repents of his folly, restores his relationship with his father, and eventually becomes a legendary hero in Shakespeare’s sequel, Henry V.

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Robbery, and the Chain Reaction of Praise

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San Antonio Robbery“Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
    and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
    How long must this go on?’
Habakkuk 2:6 (NIV)

How ironic that this verse should appear on the page this morning.

Two nights ago, while on a business trip in San Antonio, someone broke into my hotel room while I was away having dinner with my brother. I was staying a Courtyard Inn and had a first floor room on the interior courtyard. The thief or thieves broke the plate glass of the patio door, snatched my backpack, all my electronic gear, and all the training materials I needed for a week of customer service training and coaching. The thieves got away without the hotel’s security cameras seeing them. It appears that they knew exactly what they were doing to avoid being seen.

I’ll be honest with you. The first thing that popped into my mind when I realized I’d been robbed was a not-so-nice exclamatory word. The second thing that popped into my mind was “chain reaction of praise.”

For the past several months my local gathering of fellow Jesus followers have been focusing on incorporating a simple formula in our lives:

Praise God in all circumstances (especially the bad ones)
↓
which activates your faith…
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to pray powerful prayers…
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and overcome evil…
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preparing us to live and reign with Christ

So, there I stood in my hotel room with a nervous hotel assistant general manager and an apathetic police officer who seemed more interested in getting to the donut shop than investigating the break in. I began going through the litany of things missing. It was a lot. Personal laptop, work laptop, iPad, folio with all my work files, two irreplaceable pens (I’m a collector),  external hard drive with ALL my photos, etc. and etc. I was shocked and sad and frustrated and violated and confused and really, really pissed.

And through my mind, over and over again, went the chain reaction of praise. And, Jesus’ words:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?”

I continue to cycle through all sorts of emotions, and most of them are not positive. It’s part of the process. In the midst of them I’m continuing to choose into silently, in my spirit, whispering praise for all that I have which can never be taken away. I’m choosing to pray for those who have stolen from me, and hoping that they get their lives straightened out. Neither of these choices are coming very naturally to me, but I learned a long time ago that faith is often about choosing the path that feels the least natural. Leap, and the net will appear.

Today, I will spend my day assembling the list of things missing, finding serial numbers, going through files looking for receipts, and trying to piece my personal and work life back together from back up drives and the cloud. I will talk to insurance agents and be told all of the things they will not cover and the high deductible I will pay out-of-pocket for the things they will. If you run across me you may find me grumbling not-so-nice exclamations under my breath, or you may find me praising God and whispering a prayer for the thieves. It will depend on the moment. I’m still in process.