Finding peace midst a random act of vandalance.

This post is a bit overdue, but better late than never... A couple Saturdays ago we became a statistic in a juvenile area prank. John and I were still talking about the fun we had with Michael and Becca at ValleyScare as we turned into our driveway around 12:30 a.m.Sunday morning. Right away I noticed that our Explorer parked in the driveway was leaning one way a little and that we must have a flat. The roof of our townhouse was just replaced a few months ago and we are still finding nails around our patio area so I wouldn't have been surprised if one of those had been in the tire, creating a flat. However, when we went closer to the vehicle we noticed that BOTH of the tires on the right-hand were flat. I don't think that even with the perfect alignment of the stars could the coincidence of having I two roofing nails in two different tires make two flats. It turned out that the valve stems had been cut off of the tires. Very strange, we had not done anything to anyone (that we know of) and the vehicle was parked nicely in our driveway.

We went to bed because we were too tired to do anything that night and we had to get up early since we had an early bell performance in church the next day. While still annoyed upon waking up on Sunday morning, it was then that I found the peace. While driving to church that morning (with a sleeping husband beside me) I sang along to every word of every song on KTIS that morning. It was as if God was opening up my heart to hear his Word. We heard a wonderful sermon at church by Pastor Tim about peace and Jim accompanied the congregation to the awesome hymn It is Well With My Soul. I remember learning about this hymn earlier in my life, how it was written by Horatio Spafford after losing almost everything in his life, including all his children. After everything that had happened to him, he still had enough faith to praise God for who He is! Pastor Tim preached about how dull our lives would be if we never were anxious about anything, but God gives us a prescription for peace. God does not want us to worry and he never gives us more than we can handle.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9

Here is a picture of our sad Explorer after the flats were removed. Time to go to Sears and get them fixed!

I truly, truly believe that bad things happen so that our eyes will be opened to much better things around us. This incident helped us meet our neighbors. Our neighbor Roger offered to pump up our tires for us (before he realized the valve stems were cut). We met another couple at Sears that fell victim to this prank. But the biggest thing that came out of this is that John and I were faced with a challenge and were were able to work through it together. Yes, we called on the help of family, but we overcame what God put before us.

For further reading on the vandalism and related activities visit:

http://www.co.carver.mn.us/county_government/docs/Vandalism.pdf

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=527711

http://www.startribune.com/local/33212109.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU