Last Sunday night someone tried to break into our church building. He broke the glass on the front door and entered the foyer. When the alarm sounded he escaped but cut himself on a shard of glass on the way out. The police were alerted by the alarm company and by the time Réal and I arrived he had been arrested down the street. All that was left to do was to clean up the mess, fill out the police report, and call the glass company to come repair the door. As I thought about this incident on the way home that night several lessons came to mind that taught me about life in the church:

Lesson #1 – Bad things come out of nowhere
I was at home in my PJ’s when the police called and within a half hour I was at the building trying to figure out how to secure the broken front door against further break-ins and cold weather! In the same way, in our spiritual lives bad things just “break-in” and we have to be ready and able to cope with the challenge. It may not be fair or convenient (emergencies rarely are) but we need to deal with them as best we can with God’s help. In the end these things have a way of testing our ability to deal with spiritual crisis.

Lesson #2 – Thank God for faithful brethren
Réal Venne also showed up when the police called and was busy picking up glass and debris as I talked to the police officer. Afterwards we worked together to secure the door for the night and shut the building down. As I drove him home I thanked him for coming out to help and he answered, “I’m happy to do anything for the church.”

What a great encouragement that was. When it’s so difficult to get people to volunteer for small tasks and the faith of some is growing cold, how refreshing to hear a brother declare, in both words and action, his devotion to the church of the Lord.

In the end the break-in itself only caused minor damage to the building, but provided me an important reminder that things can go wrong very quickly and when they do what a joy to find a faithful brother ready to help.