This morning, I awoke from my nightly slumber, spent a few minutes nestled with Alyssa, washed my face, wet my hair, dressed for work, shot my paintball gun a few times (without paintballs of course), warmed up some left-over noodles, and read Psalm 40. Basically this day started off just like any other day…

While walking out to my car, I enjoyed the bright beautiful sunlight, and the warm weather. The air felt more humid and smelt much cleaner, indicating that the fires in the Anaheim Hills are dying down. After opening the door to my car, I noticed a piece of plastic lying on my seat cushion. I began tracing little fragments of plastic from across the seat to the passenger seat, then from the passenger seat to the back seat where a pile of broken glass lay. At that moment, I realized that my car had been BURGLED. Once the situation became clear to me, I started noticing more of the evidence around the crime scene. First, and most obvious, the stereo was missing. Well, not really the whole stereo, just the face plate of the stereo system. Second, the small window in the back was shattered across the back seat. Third, the glove compartment was open, and many of the knick-knacks I kept stored away were disseminated across the front car area. Fourth, the thief took a pair of prescription sunglasses and a portable CD player that I stored on the side door compartment. Finally, the rear view mirror was displaced.

I called the police department, and they took a report of the crime. Next, I left a message with my insurance agent. I don’t expect this situation to cause much stress, problems, money, or even a big amount of time. In fact, this situation has been a neutral experience, but in order to analyze if this truly is a neutral experience, I must do a little test that I like to call, “Compare the pros and cons” or for those in Life Group, “Highs and Lows”.

• Pro - The stereo was on the verge of dying anyway. Rarely ever did the display work, and the face plate kept falling off.
• Con – The thief did a sloppy job and practically tore out all the guts of the unit. He/She didn’t even extract the core, but just ended up taking the face off. So, if the robber is reading this blog, I just want to say, “If you are going to steal something, at least do it right. If you are going to give up on something as small as a car stereo, how do I know you are not going to give up on much bigger things? This type of attitude will not help you graduate college or someday get that PHD. You need to start thinking about this stuff now before you resort to anything that can get you in trouble.”
• Pro – Not everything was taken from my car. I had a basketball, two pairs of gloves, a car squeegee, digital tire pressure gage, and a parking lot access key that I am very happy still remain in my car.
• Con – My prescription sun glasses were taken. I really liked those glasses, and they cost a lot.
• Pro – Maybe the thief will realize they are prescription sun glasses, and get upset because they are not sellable. Then the thief will decide to wear them because he/she doesn’t like to leave stolen merchandise sitting around the house. Finally, the thief will start to inherit my bad vision because the glasses will distort his/her eyeballs. Then to top it off, the thief will want lasik eye surgery, but then realize that they cannot steal lasik eye surgery, not because a surgery can’t be stolen, but because he/she doesn’t have the perseverance to steal lasik. “Why?” you ask, well it’s simple; it’s because they didn’t finish stealing the little things.
• Con – The window on my car is broken. I don’t mind that the window is broken, but now my car is vulnerable to anyone who wants to break in, and that sucks.
• Pro – There isn’t anything left to steal. Ha Ha… I guess the term, “You snooze, you loose” is appropriate at this time.
• Con – I guess someone can steal the whole car.
• Pro – New car.

And do you know what the real kicker is? After glancing over my car, and seeing the broken window, stolen stereo and glasses, and scattered glove compartment; the thing that made me most upset was the displaced rear-view-mirror. You already messed my whole car up, why do you need to screw with my mirror? Did you think I was hiding something behind it, because nobody ever hides anything behind the rear-view-mirror, and besides, everyone can see behind the mirror… because it’s attached to a WINDOW! Or maybe you thought that you could steal the mirror to sell on the streets. What? Is there a big demand for rear-view-mirrors on the streets of Long Beach? I’m sure there’s a lot of business for a dirty 1995 Toyota Camry Rear-View-Mirror. You know what? I bet you were trying to steal the mirror, but… that’s right, you gave up too soon.

In all seriousness, the real tragedy of this situation is that the thief didn’t steal the most valuable item in the car. You see, in the back seat of my car is a bible, and unbeknownst to the robber, that book could have lead him to the gift of eternal life and a fulfilling life of knowing Jesus. Maybe someday when I see a partially blind person with a nice pair of sunglasses and a broken stereo face-plate, I’ll share with him/her the Love of Jesus, and they will say, “Why didn’t I know about this sooner?”, and I will say, “Because your lazy butt didn’t steal my Bible”