daily java

Daily Java:

If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. (Ephesians 4:28)

My van got stolen yesterday. It wasn’t organized crime or anything. In fact, it only got driven down the alley and into the garden you can see to the north from the back of the church. The thief drove it into the garden and took out four melons and a few lima beans. Some would consider that a mercy killing, but I like lima beans.

I thought at first that it had rolled down the hill, but I had parked it facing toward Sixth Street. And it was just behind a satellite dish so it couldn’t have gone straight. So it had to be driven down there.

We figure it was a kid because Ella’s Bible briefcase was in the driver’s seat like he needed height to see over the dashboard. And obviously, the driver couldn’t steer very well.

Don’t know who it was. As I said, it was probably kids on a dare. I keep the key in the ignition because the ignition is broken and I am afraid to take it out too many times. A few times it didn’t go back in without a lot of hassle.

And besides, you have seen the van. It is a good van and I like it, but it is not listed in any magazines as a most stolen vehicle. 18 year old Ford minivans are on the bottom of the list.

However, it has been stolen before. When we lived in Kansas City and I pastored a church there, it was taken for a week before the police recovered it. When we got it back, it was filled with junk and filthy. The guy had run a breaking and entering business and took it because it is rather anonymous.

He broke the ignition switch (which is why it is so temperamental now) and I started it with a needle-nosed Vise grip until a friend replaced it. The insurance company totaled it and sold it to me for $100. I have driven it now for six years, so it is a little hard to complain if it gets hurt.

But that is, of course, not the point. The point is that a kid probably took it on a dare, and he was not very old or tall. Or it could be an angry dwarf, but that is unlikely.

And since I go to see guys in the jail who started their pathetic little lives of crime in just that way, it makes me sad for the kids. They may be in there in a few years.

It amazes me at how worthless a life of crime usually is. I read a survey once that said that the average criminal usually make well below minimum wage, counting what he has stolen, and has a lot of fear and uncertainty and, in the end, jail time for it. The idea of wealthy criminals is a fiction. The reality is sad and pitiful.

So my van is home from its little adventure, safe and healthy. And I got a chance to meet the neighbor down the alley who owns the garden.

I also like the fact that I had a verse to go with the van being taken. My son always hated that I could quote the Bible about anything he did. A father’s revenge.