MJ and a Robbery

Last night, the fabulous Nichole took Sam for the night so Frank and I could go on a date. Sam is a great restaurant kid - he loves going out to eat - but we have never taken him to a movie so to do "dinner and a movie" was a rare treat.

Frank's been wanting to go to one of our favorite sushi places in Sac, and since I hate going to the movies, I picked the Michael Jackson movie because I like MJ and I like dancing. Go ahead and laugh at me for going to it - but it was pretty good stuff.

I was blown away at how humble and kind he was. He's there with this endless budget and plenty of sparkling lights and MJ fanfare on his sets, and he is just so sweet and "God bless you"s everyone from his dancers to his manager. To see someone so famous, so accomplished, and treated so badly by so many over the years - come across as so accommodating and loving to all he works with - it was a very good lesson to remember.

It inspired me to think before I speak at arts rehearsals - remembering that just because I understand something well, does not mean the person I am interacting with does. And just because in my mind I know what I want and how something should work - it doesn't mean it is simple or reasonable or tangible to the person in charge of actually doing it, be it a sound technician, media guy or very beginner performer.

So as I left the movie theater with this renewed sense of the importance of kindness, patience and grace - we find my car window smashed to bits and my GPS stolen. My first impulse was to whine. I had just gotten it for my birthday not even 3 months ago, and I get lost EVERYWHERE I go. It had been a total godsend and now some punk kid who was bored had stolen it just for the heck of it. They didn't take the charger, mount, or any other part - just ripped off the actual GPS to probably swap it for some video games.

Then we talked to the theater security guard who didn't even know which police department to call. We are in an unincorporated area of Sacramento, and so our services fall in both counties, and this dude had no idea what to do. He just kept shaking his head and commenting on what a bad neighborhood the movie theater was in as he did a crappy job sweeping glass out of my car.

Again, I wanted to get angry and snap "So what are you - an undercover samurai or something? What do you do when a real crime happens if you don't even know what stupid police station takes care of our region?!"

But I decided again to just choose patience and love, even though it was hard and I felt hurt.

So now I am GPS-less and we drove Sam to his doctor's appointment this morning with plastic on my window. The repair is going to cost us money we don't have, and it's a huge inconvenience on a day when Frank wanted to spend a lot of time at a woodworking convention and I was looking forward to just relaxing and cooking for my brunch tomorrow.

But....

"He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified."

- Galatians 5:22-23(MSG)

However I should note, just in case my robber wasn't a ghetto 15 year old from the other side of the train tracks, I will be watching Craigslist and if I find my GPS on there...I may not be so gracious.

I guess I am not completely reformed. God is still working on me.