On Thievery

October 26, 2009

On Thievery

A few days ago I woke up with a feeling of despair and deflation. The previous day I discovered money had been stolen from me, again. Why would someone steal money from me? Why would they do it three times over three weeks? How did they get into my house each time? As these thoughts flooded me in the early morn, and I began to wonder why I freely chose to come back to Uganda, God convicted me of my own self-righteousness and led me to pray for the thief.

Prayer led me to feel sorry for the thief. At least he did not steal all my money, and he did not take anything else, except a freshly baked loaf of bread, as my computer and camera were easily within his reach. He must be really hungry. Hopefully all the money went towards food. I somehow began to rationalize the theft, and was convinced that this was just a very minor setback in my journey. I also pondered leaving a note in my underwear drawer in case the thief returned. Each time money went missing I discovered that he went through all my drawers, most notably my sock and underwear drawer.

As I pondered what I would want to tell the thief in letter form, I concluded it would go something like this:

Dear Thief (Thieves),

Thank you for not taking all my money, I appreciate your kindness in that regard. However, I am slightly bothered that you broke into my house on three separate occasions, each time during daylight hours, and scoured through my drawers. For all I know you may be wearing some of my underwear and socks right now. I hope you like them.

I prayed for you today. I feel sorry for you. You must be really hungry or really bored to break into my house, especially during the day. I hope you are someone I don’t know, though my suspicion is that you may be someone that knows me well. My assumption is that you have been watching me very closely, as you seem to know exactly when I will be leaving my house and the precise time in which I will return. You are very observant. I also hope you enjoyed the bread you stole, it was just baked that morning. That particular type of bread goes well with honey and butter (which we have, should you decide to visit us again).

When my roommate Nathan spoke to one of the kids about previous thefts, the young boy replied “The thief will meet God someone day, and He will send him to burn in the fire.” I hope that is not true. If you don’t know Jesus, I would love to tell you about him some time. He’s a really cool guy that changed my life forever. He can change your life too.

Thanks for taking the time to read this letter. Sorry, I don’t know Lubwisi well enough to write this note in that language, so please forgive me – I am trying, “slowly, slowly” as they say here to learn the language.

I forgive you for stealing from me, but I would prefer it not happen again. Feel free to stop by when I am home sometime, as I would be happy to bake you a loaf of friendship bread

Sincerely,

Your Supplier of Bread and Cash (Your “SBC”)