IT WAS THE END of Memorial Day weekend (last month) and I was working out of town, in Oklahoma. Much of my work in the film/video industry requires a lot of post-production editing, which means I spend more of my waking hours in front of a computer than anything else. I had just returned from Florida, where I had been working on a project with a client – an international recording artist. It so happened, that I had decided to get a jump on the morning’s work load, and decided to stay up late editing his project.
Part of the process of editing film requires (sometimes) many hours of waiting on the computer to render sequences and process special effects. Knowing I had some rendering time and a bit of a wait in front of me, I decided to go out, get some fresh air, and go on a short drive while my computer was back at the house, doing its thing.
Not more than an hour or so later, I pulled back into the driveway and made my way to the front door. What happened next would never be forgotten.
I unlocked the front door and made my way through the small living room to the dining area, where my computer and editing bay was set up, when I noticed that some coin-change, which had previously been on the kitchen counter was spread onto the kitchen floor. Suddenly an eerie feeling came over me, and I cautiously walked through the house, making my way to the master bedroom.
Just as I was walked into the bedroom, I couldn’t help but notice the bed, which was pushed away from the wall and the window. The window was broken and glass was scattered all over the carpet. In a half-second, I glanced around the room and found all of the dresser drawers opened, the reality still hitting me: I’ve been robbed.
My heart found its way to the center of my throat – so it seemed, and I ran back into the living room only to discover what I had feared… two bags of equipment had been stolen. $7500 worth of high end camera equipment, computer equipment, etc… GONE.
Naturally, I called 9-1-1 and (naturally) waited patiently for 45 minutes for the police to arrive. It was the longest 45 minutes of my life, and at 39 years of age I couldn’t help but bury my face in my hands and cry. It wasn’t just the thought of losing my prized Canon 5D Mark II, or my Blu-Ray Authoring Drive. In one of the bags were also 12-15 hours of video footage, which I had filmed in Jerusalem for a client last fall, and hundreds of irreplaceable photos, which belonged to other clients – stored on a computer hard drive.
Over the next several days, my mind was like an FBI laboratory with thousands of thoughts, hundreds of questions and at least a dozen expletives for the person(s), who stole my belongings. With that – for some reason – my mind continued to return to just one passage of scripture.
“…for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
Found in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, the scripture makes reference to the end of time, when the Lord makes His return to earth to rapture His believers. As you can imagine, with the events I had just experienced, the word thief was not exactly a word of comfort to me – even if it was written in the good book. In fact, I couldn’t help but wonder for the first time: WHY IN THE HECK WOULD the word THIEF be used to DESCRIBE the GOD I SERVE?
AND WHY CAN’T I GET MY MIND OFF OF THIS VERSE!
CAN YOU HELP ME OUT HERE AND GIVE ME SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE PLEASANT TO MEDITATE ON, GOD?
Needless to say, I think God humored me, and I decided to do a little studying… you know… since I didn’t have a CAMERA TO TAKE ANY PICTURES WITH…or, a LAPTOP COMPUTER TO WORK ON…! (GRRR!)
In my pity party – hosted by ME, and where I alone were the sole attendee, by MYSELF mind you – I came to some interesting revelation about the passage.
The Apostle Paul, in that passage (1Thess. 5:1-5, NIV) refers to “people,” “them,” and “they.” He clearly paints a picture, which distinguishes believers from unbelievers.
1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
I realized… in the midst of my pain, that the thief described in this passage is NOT a thief to the believer, but a thief-perceived by the unbeliever. Keep in mind, the reference says, “…like a thief.” Often times in scripture, biblical authors use the word “like,” (in this context) because of it being the strongest word to denote comparative illustration:
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” (ACTS 2:2)
“Then I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire…” (REVELATION 15:2)
A thief catches the unprepared by surprise.
A thief cannot act as a thief or be perceived as a thief to one who is prepared.
The return of the Lord for His believers is not an act of theft to the believer, but to the unbeliever left behind.
The night of May 31st was a surprise to me, because I was not expecting to be robbed or to be stolen from. I was caught by surprise. I wasn’t prepared for what could happen to me. And like you hear most people say, who experience anything terrible like this: I never thought it could happen to me.
Don’t let it happen to you.
