Mugged!

Yesterday morning, I was mugged at 6:30 by two young men, one of whom was wielding a knife. I was on the street in front of my house where I park my van, preparing to get inside the van to leave; they cornered me by my van, one of them displayed a knife, and they stole my tote bag (thinking it was my purse), then realizing they hadn't gotten my purse, one of them pushed me out of the way to get to my purse, which was in the passenger's front seat, and took off running. I screamed "NO" and "HELP" as loud as I could, but no one heard me, or if they could, they weren't able to get out of their house fast enough to help me. It was over in about 2 seconds, if that.

I was really grateful I wasn't physically harmed. Also, the van was running, with both the driver's and driver's side doors open, so they could easily have pushed me out of the way, hopped in, and drove off with everything, so I was really grateful that didn't happen, either! I think they were too young to drive, so I think they didn't try to steal it for that reason. The police recovered my tote bag, which the robbers ditched less than a block away when they realized all it contained was papers and books. I haven't heard from the police about them recovering my purse, but I don't expect to get that back. Believe me, after calling the police, then calming down, my next response was to get service turned off to my mobile phone and, when they opened, I called all my debit/credit card companies and cancelled everything in my wallet. Of course, I have lost my mobile phone, iPod, and two 1 GB jump drives, so that's a hassle/expense to contend with.

So, what's a Christian person to do with this kind of situation?

Well I definitely said more than a couple of prayers of thanksgiving for my being physically unharmed and for that my van was not stolen, also. After those two major things, I am trying to figure out a way to forgive these people. For one thing, they are young, and young people do some really dumb things. I just hope they realize the error of their ways before they do something idiotic and permanent, like hurting someone. I think I will ultimately be able to forgive them, but that's not to say I am taking lightly what has happened, and have already begun taking precautions to avoid this situation again. Of course, my forgiving them does not mean I condone what they have done; they are absolutely in the wrong for what they have done.

The day before this happened to me, a friend of mine at work told me something his girlfriend said to him that he found to be very profound. He said she had told him "love people, but put your trust in God" and that if you trust people, they will always fail you, and you will forever be disappointed in them. I suppose, based upon this incident and some other things that have happened to me in my life, this is true. I wish it weren't.

I have never been one to let people into my inner sanctum. There are very few who I can say I trust with my innermost thoughts and feelings . . . . maybe only one or two people in my life right now.

God, however, can be trusted with all of my self, and He is always constant and true.