Some things I have read have caused me to stop dead in my tracks this morning and pray for my town, our local law enforcement & those who are so consumed with fear they seem to be unable to focus on anything but that fear.
Our town has had an increase in breaks on vehicles over the last few weeks. Thieves are targeting unlocked cars and taking whatever they can quickly grab and run with. Things like cash, gifts, small things. There have been a few home breakins as well but to my knowledge no one has been home when these events have occurred. The police are working on it, it happens in every town across this nation this time of year. It is a sad reality but it is the world we live in. Satan is alive and well.
Some people (because there have been more than one) have jumped on social media in groups and proclaimed that they plan to shoot whoever is lurking around their homes. Shoot them dead. DEAD.
Now, before I go any further, please take note, highlight it if you will, that I have ZERO issue with folks defending themselves against an intruder. An actual intruder, you know one who enters your home while you are there? I for one will defend myself, my husband, children to my dying breath by any means necessary should the choice of them or me ever arise. I think we all would. Their safety is paramount. It's why we buckle our kids in car seats and monitor their online activities. And I will defend them.
I am struggling however with the way some folks in this town have become so consumed with fear that they say they are willing to shoot people over stuff. STUFF!!
If that person is not an active threat to your person and you shoot to kill in your driveway over some tools in your car, guess what??? You're going to go to jail. And posts about doing in before it happens can and likely will lead to a charge of premeditation. It happens daily. All because some over zealous individual takes things too far.
I have been robbed before. It is extremely unsettling. It takes a long time to even process it let alone move on from it. But at the end of the day, they only took stuff. Replaceable stuff. They didn't harm any of us, or my pets. They took things they could sell. We weren't even home. My car has been hit twice over the years. I left it unlocked and that was all they needed. Was I mad? You better know it! Did I want my stuff back? Absolutely. Did my anger and lust for revenge change a dang thing in that situation? NOPE! It only changed me. And not for the better, I assure you.
Fear is what is fueling this behavior I am seeing. F-E-A-R. Fear and some warped belief that our stuff is somehow way more important than human life. It's not people.
There are families in this community who have lost everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, in recent house fires. They got out with each other and the clothes on their backs. While I know they are unhappy about losing old family pictures and favorite stuffed animals, I can promise you they could care less about any of it because they are so thankful to have survived together. It's just stuff and it can be replaced.
There are people in this town who would in all seriousness give up everything they own to see a recently departed loved one again right now. They wouldn't hesitate if it meant seeing the one they miss so badly.
We have become such a people of stuff that we are willing to threaten to kill folks AT CHRISTMAS over stuff. What the thieves are doing is wrong, there is no defense for their actions but if we call ourselves Christians, then there is also no defense we can offer for behaving so badly over things of this world. Stuff. Like it or not, this behavior and talk is extremely un Christlike. It's just sad.
I refuse to be consumed by fear and I also refuse to be so materialistic that I place human life at a less valuable rate than my tv or the change in my cars console.
Need I remind everyone that Joseph & Mary were going from place to place makings ruckus in the middle of the night because they so desperately needed a place to rest right before the very Savior many of you claim to follow was born? Think about it. The inn keeper could have followed fear but he didn't.
We would all do well to remember that it was a thief who in his agony on his own cross, next to a crucified Christ, called out to his Lord and Jesus saved him as well. A thief. Think on that.
Luke 2: 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Stop letting fear steal your joy this Christmas. Fear is lethal to your soul. God loves us, we have zero to fear. Put a little love in your hearts folks. It's life changing.
Merry Christmas,
Sandy
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