I ran a a gas station for almost ten years. Most of the time was enjoyabIe. However, sometimes things happen that aren't quite so fun. In the ten years, I was robbed three times.

The first time, an ex-employee told some of his friends how to break in. They tore the place up, destroyed a vending machine, and took all tobacco products and candy. I found out who it was because they bragged about it at school. The police knew who it was, also, but we couldn't find anyone to come forward and say they heard the guys talking about it.

The second time, a guy used a crowbar on the front door, boxed all my candy and skoal and made several trips to hide the stuff behind a neighboring business. One of my neighbors saw him and called the police. The police dog chased him into a tree and they caught him. I got all my stuff back.

After this, I installed an alarm system and haven't been broken into since, but the alarm has gone off many times.

The last time I was robbed, I was sitting at my desk and noticed something to my left. I walked around the desk and saw two people with hoods on, grabbed the phone and dialed something besides 911. The two ran around the corner and pushed the door open. I turned around and noticed that one had a bat, and the other was holding a pistol.

I asked, "What do you want?"

"The money"

"Anything else?"

"Just the money"

Now, that may seem like a strange question, but I figured out some time ago that if a thief was carrying a couple of cases of Pepsi, it would slow him down.

I handed them the wallet and watched them leaf through it, then start running down the street. I dialed 911 (got it right, this time) and said all kinds of strange stuff—I did get the point across—dropped the phone and ran to the road to see where the guys had gone. A police car drove up, and headed in the direction I pointed out.

Every policeman and sheriff deputy in the area showed up to search. They found both guys by 3:30. The getaway car driven by one of the thief's wives who had her young son with her was stopped about six blocks away.

My boss showed up about 30 minutes after the robbery and stated that I didn't look too shook up. I stated, "Well, I am."

Many Psychologists would state that robbery causes psychological damage to the victim. Victims go through several stages, somewhat similar to the stages of coping with the death of a loved one.

Stages in a Crisis

1.) shock—If you've ever had someone pointing a weapon at you, I bet you were shocked.

a.) immobilization—I just stood there and watched them count through the money

b.) denial—I skipped this one

2.) impact

a.) anger—While this was going on, I thought—I worked for hours to get this money, it'll take several days to recover. What scum bags, stealing my hard-earned money!

b.) "what if?"—What if I had beat them to a bloody pulp? Or What if that scum bag had shot me and I wound up in the hospital?

c.) depression—Man, this job stinks, what else can I do for a living?

3.) recovery or chronic PTSD--Get over it, or you don't and it negatively affects you for the rest of your life

Have you ever thought that God might go through this? Read through the account of the flood and see how many of these fit what God mentions, read through the Old Testament, following the Israelites and see it again.

Sometimes, I think it is hard to picture the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, the sustainer of all life, the master of everything as having something as simple as… feelings. I think that He does, and He wants us to know about it.

Here's something in Malachi 3:8ff "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land."

Do you think God feels anything when we rob Him by not giving our possessions, our money, our time, to work for him? Or our time to study His word? Or our time to pray? How else can we come to know Him and depend on His great love and mercy?

Look at Hosea. In the first chapter, the prophet is ordered by God to take an adulterous wife as an example of what Israel has done to God. v. 3 Gomer conceives with Hosea and has a son named Jezreel, signifying the end of the kingdom of Israel. In v. 6 Gomer conceives again, maybe not with Hosea, the daughter is named "not loved." In v. 8, Gomer has another son named "not my people," again, possibly not Hosea's child. Throughout the whole book, God shows his desire for His people to return to Him and obey His Word, and He will show mercy, ending His anger at their actions, and ending his punishment for their disobedience.

God desires obedience and repentance from His people, and promises compassion, redemption, and love to those who follow Him.

In John 12:45, we read that we can see God through Jesus.

Look at John 2, here's a story you probably know, but you might have missed the significance of something.

"On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, 'They have no more wine.'"

Did you see it?

Why did Jesus go to the wedding? He was invited.

I think there are a couple of points we can draw from that.

He was invited because they wanted him to be there. For our wedding, there was an extended family that we didn't want to attend, so we didn't invite them. They didn't come, we went. We were happy, and they probably were, also.

The people you want to have around you must have something you like about them, otherwise you wouldn't want to have them around.

Here's two more verses:

Mark 12:37 The crowd listened to Him with delight

Matthew 4:18-22 He called for his disciples and they immediately left what they were doing to follow Him.

That's enough, but there are more.

Jesus must have been pretty likable. People I like to have around me show some emotion, they don't go through life on a treadmill, and don't always look at the bad side of everything. I think most people are like that, not really wanting negative people around. Have you ever thought that you might like God? Like and Love can be totally different.

The second thing—When you ask Jesus to come he will. Sometimes you hear, ask Jesus to come into your heart. But, I don't think God wants to be in your heart. He also doesn't want to be in your spleen, your liver, or your kidneys, He wants to be in your life.

There is a famous painting of Jesus standing in front of a red door in a garden. The door is closed. The caption reads "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Next time you see it, look closely. There is no doorknob or any way to open the door from Jesus' side—it can only be opened from the inside.

If you need to open the door to let Jesus into your life, please come.