Since we live in a big city with a significant amount of robberies, it’s important to have things in place to deter a potential intruder.  That is why people hire guards, why people have dogs and why the majority of homes have tall concrete walls around them with something on the top of the wall and gates.  On one side of our home we have a wall that is completely covered in thick, thorny tall bushes that exceed the height of the wall and on the other three sides we have a wall with poles with barbered wire and jagged pieces of glass set into the top of the concrete to make it harder to climb the wall and enter.  We had a branch from an avocado tree fall on one side bending the metal pole that holds the barbered wire.  The pole didn’t break off, but was bent and the metal was cracked.  This was right before the roof repair started so we decided to deal with it after the roof was repaired.

The day after the roof was completed, someone at 3 a.m. tried to enter.  Our dog barked and growled like we’ve never heard before.  We kept ourselves locked in the house, but flashed the outside lights and yelled so the potential intruder knew we were awake.  When daybreak came we walked around to find that the pole and barbered wire were placed up on our roof to allow someone to slip in under the wire and the back corner of the roof was damaged from someone trying to pry it up.  We suspect someone had been watching the three weeks of roof repair and thought it was still going on and we would have a compromised roof to gain easy entry.

While we were preparing to serve with Wycliffe I read in a Women of the Harvest magazine that wherever God leads us to serve Him is the very best and very safest place for our family to be.  I have to admit that I know this in my head, but sometimes it’s hard to have it cemented in my heart.  It hasn’t felt safe, but I know God is our protection.

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

Psalm 46:1-3 NIV