It isn’t easy at times to accept all things that come our way. We know that all things work together for the good to them that love the Lord, and are called according to His purpose, but still as humans, it can be hard to accept. The age old question: Why do bad things happen to good people? There really isn’t an answer to that question other than that God has a divine purpose, and He has all things under His control. We must fully trust in Him.
In the past 20 years we have experienced events that we can’t explain. While living in Torreón, Coahuila we were robbed three times. It was through these robberies that we met Gerardo Antonio Perez and the doors to prison ministry were first opened to us. After relocating on the border we were robbed three more times in North Edinburg. The mobile home that we had has been completely vandalized to the point that it is beyond repair. The Sheriff’s department knows who did it. I personally accompanied one of the deputies to the house where our burgled possessions were stored to recover our property, but it was part of a drug ring that robbed us and our Sheriff is now in prison for his associations with the drug cartels. There was no interest for them to prosecute the case.
Recently, within the past two weeks we have been robbed twice again. The things are small: a gps system, a car phone charger and sun glasses were robbed from our car in mid-afternoon, while being in a fenced in yard, and we were at home. Last night we were robbed again. Lawn mower, weed eater, leaf blower, hedge trimmer, a gfx stereo guitar amp speaker system and a full set of craftsman tools to name just a few things that were taken. It isn’t the things that matter so much, as the brazenness of those robbing us while we are at home. One time was during the afternoon; last night about 11:00 pm.
I realize that in the over all scheme of things these are light matters, but the feeling of violation and insecurity are horrible feelings. I am gone so much and Brenda is here by herself. The sad thing is that these experiences aren’t uncommon for missionaries. Ask others. Many other missionaries have experienced the same things. It is easy to have feelings that you should not have and lose the focus that these are men and women who don’t know the Lord; those to whom Jesus is reaching out. help us to pray that focus will not be lost. Things are replaceable, but the soul lost is a eternal tragedy.