Written July 7th, 2010
The phrase “a thief in the night” took on a whole new meaning last night.
So does “while you were sleeping”, for that matter.
Sometime after midnight, but before 5:30 this morning, Tanzanian ninjas broke into the guest house we’ve been staying in.
By breaking in, I mean walking through the front door. No one locked it before they went to bed.
And by ninjas, I mean some stealthy son-of-a-guns. In the theft of one person’s computer, they had to take ear buds out of the victim’s ear, and they did it without him waking up.
In all, two backpacks, four laptops, two i-pods, wallets, and one passport were taken (none of which were mine) while we were sleeping.
Tanzanian police have caught a suspect, but they didn’t turn up the stolen property when they searched his house.
We all figure it’s been sold already.
I’m sure I could think of about fifty different lessons to come out of what happened last night.
Lock the doors at night.
Lock up your computer and other valuables when you’re not using them.
Etc, etc.
What I’ve been thinking about today, though, is a question my team’s contact in New Zealand posed just before we left.
If all you had was God, would that be enough?
Five and a half months ago, my answer would have been a solid “No” – if I’d had to say something then.
My heart has to have changed, because I’m posing that very question to myself, and the answer today is a hesitant “yes”.
Tremendous walls have fallen at my feet since then – walls I never could have scaled.
If my computer were stolen six or seven months ago, I would have been devastated, wondering how the Lord was going to provide me with a new one (or if He would even give it to me).
Now, I look at my screen and I realize… in the general scheme of things, it’s just a computer.
Just a tool God has given me to minister to all of you while I’m out here.
If I lost it, there’s always pen and paper and my teammates’ computers or an internet cafe to share with the rest of the world what He’s saying to me and teaching me.
And if there’s not even that much, then I can always speak the words out loud.
Really, what it comes down to is whether or not I believe God is enough.
Is He big enough to be my everything?
Is He worthy enough to be trusted?
Is He capable enough to provide what I need to complete the task He’s assigned me to for this and every other season of my life?
Is He loving enough to stick with me through all the horror that comes along with life as we know it?
Is he strong enough to carry me through my weakest moments and darkest hours?
Academically, I know the answer to every question just posed is a “yes”.
It’s a typical Sunday School response.
God isn’t just enough – He’s more than enough, you would say.
The Bible backs up that claim quite nicely, and you can recite example upon example of times where He lived up to your answer.
What I’m asking isn’t about knowledge.
It’s about belief.
Do I dare take that leap of faith and entertain the idea of God being enough?
What do I have to lose if I do?
Will that leap be worth the cost?
I can’t answer those questions for you anymore than you can answer them for me.
Truthfully, I still don’t have the answers in my own life.
What I’ve got is the faith to believe without having seen God’s face.
I hope that when you start asking, you’ll find that same kind of faith.
