| Home Security Testimony (Trust or Obey) Happy Valentines Day to all that put Jesus as their First Love. Yet somehow, when thinking about a testimony concerning love, the Lord brought back to my memory a very sad testimony about the real world where love doesn't always exist, that we can never ignore even in our happier moments. So I write the following testimonies, with all its implications and warnings, for those that are interested. *************************************************************** It was l982, and we had moved to Baguio City in the Philippines. I learned photography on my own and we opened up a photography, handicraft shop in the Pines Hotel, one of the most famous old landmarks in all the Philippines. Anyway at the time, I was designing cross-stitch patterns for a group of ladies and helping market them, so they could make extra money for their families. It was sort of under the umbrella group called YWAM (Youth with a Mission) They were really quite reasonable Christians and were trying to help the poor and so contacted us, as we were then part of a so-called non-denominational church. The problem was YWAM members were a little naive to the real world and many of them came straight from the West, without any real experience with the 3rd World, not the realities of the rich and the poor. Anyway, one of their couples was living close to town with their kids in a ground floor apartment. They loved their tropical paradise situation and trusted their neighbors so much or the Lord so much that they had the habit of leaving their doors unlocked at night. And even though they weren't rich nor displayed the trappings of wealth, they were still white. This to many 3rd world people means they must have money and they were definitely a target for robbery (even if they didn?t know it) So unfortunately one morning, a pair of wandering thugs noticed that their stairs door was open, and they went in, tied up the family, apparently found no money, and frustratingly killed all the family members, and left. It was a terrible tragedy, that totally shocked and decimated YWAM and all its friends including ourselves. Hopefully everyone was praying somehow good came from it, as we know that the Lord was and is taking care of this whole family safe within His Arms. Yet what truths can be learned from this horrible incident. Can we let down our guard, even in a worldly paradise? Is it lack of trust to lock our doors and have security measures? Is the real world tame and not to be regarded as evil. Are there those that would kill us for the smallest of things? Can we trust and not obey? Can we say we are 'trusting' when it's spiritual pride, and we should be physically doing our part to prevent wolves from entering in. Should we be naïve to the dangers that are ever present? The answers are yours. For surely we can't go to the extreme and be paranoid, but on the other hand surely we can't be so naive as to do nothing !! In my opinion from an actual very sad testimony. Love and Safety in Jesus Jay February 14, 2001 |