Two mornings ago, my teammate Grayson walked into our ministry location where we teach English to find it had been broken into.
There were papers thrown all over the office and all the drawers in the desks were thrown open as if the robbers had been looking for money. There were cameras and video recorders placed outside the bathroom door. There was a chair over the squatty potty and the window above the squatty potty had been opened as if that is how they entered and exited our location.
We called our contacts A and B (I will call them A and B because we cannot use their actual names over the internet because Malaysia is a Muslim nation and their ministry could get shut down if they are known to be Christians) and they said they would be on the way.
As our team sat there waiting for A and B to arrive, I started worrying that the robbers could have taken something that cost a lot money or meant a lot to A and B. I started worrying that A and B would be greatly discouraged by this and wonder why God had placed them in this area.
So as A and B entered the building, I expected fear and worry to be all over their faces. I expected them to scurry around the building making inventory of all the things that cost a lot of money. I expected them to be down trodden and discouraged.
But instead, I saw God's grace in the most beautiful way.
A and B came in just like any other day. They came in with huge smiles on their faces and asking us how we were doing. Even as they looked at their office that was a complete wreck, I never once saw a glimpse of frustration. Only joy.
I started imagining myself if I had been in their shoes. I would have been freaking out! I would have rushed in the building with concern clouding my face. I probably would have been crying and running around frustrated. I probably would have been thinking, "Cool God, I'm obedient to Your call and this is how You repay me."
After A and B looked around the center, they found that only one thing had been stolen. Their son's guitar.
Needless to say, they were relieved that that was all that was taken, but then they continued to exemplify grace.
I was in the office with A and B later that afternoon and they were working on cleaning up all the papers that had been thrown around the office.
Instead of being annoyed that they had to clean up and that the guitar was taken, they were praising God. They were quoting Romans 8:28 knowing that God works all things out for the good of those who love Him. Even something as negative as a robbery. Then they started praising Him for the fact that they hadn't left the money there over night and that the robbers had only taken the guitar.
They told me that when the police had come they were amazed at the robbery. They had no idea why they just took the guitar when they could have taken so many things that were worth so much more money. Cameras, video recorders, air conditioning, printer, and more.
A and B's resonse was simply, "We know why that's all they took".
They knew that even in the moment the robbers were in the center, God was sovereign and His glory was goign to shine through.
They also kept saying, "They can take anything from the center but they can't take anything that truly matters."
A and B know where their treasure is. They know that nothing of this world holds any value and they stake all of their worth, value and joy in Christ.
As I stood in the office that day, I was so encouraged by their reaction and I pray that if anything like this is to happen to me in the future, God's incredible grace allows me to react in the same way.
"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteosness from God that depends on faith" Philippians 3: 8-9
