The BIG Lesson From A LITTLE Break-In Story

We took things for granted. When we feel that we already have something, we thought that it would always be ours. This little story will teach us something. There’s a story about a household that was so careless in home security. They never care to lock the gate thinking that it was easier to enter without having to unlock first. Not only with that, because of the same reasons, they even let the gate opened so that they could simply enter without getting off from the car. Speaking of the house, even the house was lack of security. The people inside the house thought that security was not an issue since their house is intermediate house and not corner house. Not only that they sometimes let the main door grill unlocked, they even let the little window opened so they could grab the housekey that they left hanging by the window grill with the excuse that they didn’t have duplicate for the housekey if anyone was staying inside the house. It happened for many months, or maybe a year or so. Sometimes at nite, even the main door and the back door were not locked because any of them was too lazy to check. It’s often one of them who found out that any of the doors were not even locked. I mean, their security was considered ZERO. They totally rely on LUCK to not get any mishap from the carelessness. They occasionally noticed about the poor sense of security in one another and they did remind each other to keep the doors locked, but some of them just didn’t care much. They thought that since they were safe until that time, nothing was wrong in how they did things with the house. 

One morning, they found out that the grill of the maindoor was opened. One of the shoes was stolen from the rack. The most they could come up with was there was a thief who entered the house compound through the unlocked gate to look for something to steal. The house compound was stuffed with many things from piling newspapers to gardening and cleaning equipments. So they thought it was a minor break-in since only one pair of expensive sneakers was gone. Until they found out one of the bundle of keys that has the key to one of the cars that also has the house keys was also gone! It was when they started to feel alarmed that another person out there has the keys to one of the cars and even the house!! How could the thief has the keys when he didn’t even get to enter the house? Or did he actually enter the house and took nothing?

When they finally gathered all the evident, they found out something worse. That nite, 2 of them were sleeping at the living room on the different couches. Should anything happened that nite, they were the first to receive it. The modus operandi of the thief was summarized this way. He checked for all gates which was not locked and found the house with unhooked gate padlock. He might plan to look for something valuable at the house compound since he saw many stuff piling there. He then found out the little window was not even locked and he could see through it that someone was sleeping at the couch near the window. And what attracted him most was he actually saw that bunch of keys at the corner of the coffee table, near the window. So he took a stick from the sweeper and modified it to be a hook so he fished that key using that and he successfully did it without making a sound! He actually used the key right away to unlock the house grill and he successfully did it!! Then the question was, Why didn’t he open the door to enter the house?

They finally found out the most possible reason why. The thief tried all the keys but it was hard to open the door so he thought he got the wrong key. The thing is…the maindoor lock was a bit malfunctioned and took sometime to open even at normal situation so the first timer might not open it right away. So he stopped trying and maybe a sound made him leave the house, only taking the shoes and left his sandals there. He got the car keys but he did not dare to use it because he did not know to which car that key belongs to and if he tried his luck, the alarm could bust him so he took the keys with him when he left the house, thinking that he could get another chance to get in and take something from the car (or maybe take the car altogether!) or rob the house since he has the keys. It’s possible that he thought of coming back. Yes, that’s scary.

Imagine, what if he got in that nite? Don’t speak about materials. Lives could be in danger! He might bring some weapon to enter the house if he could open he door. That incident was a big lesson. The matter they took for granted has finally backfired them. Even how many times they were reminded to take matters seriously, but they could not do that since they found no reason to change. That incident that nite really slapped them with reality that sometimes we are just too ignorant that what we put in line are our own lives. So they were busy blaming each others about many things. From how the gate was unlocked, how the little window was also unlocked, why the keys were put at the corner of the coffee table near the window, why they put all the equipments outside the house that could be turned into weapons and all the other things. Until one of them who slept at the living room that nite told her experience that she got a weird sound in her ears – and the sound went on for so long until she finally got up. She did not realize that a thief paid a visit to the house on that same nite. In the midst of blaming each other, they finally realized One more thing. Yeah, they could blame each other for being careless…but they overlooked that this could be A WRITTEN fate that God let to happen to them so that they could open their eyes to their ignorance and carelessness. Without the incident, they won’t know how much their negligence could cost them. Another miraculous prove is that – despite being careless in security, they have been praying daily for God’s protection. And how could they know they are protected until they are so close to being in danger and then they were saved by little thing like the malfunctioned lock. Suddenly they felt so touched with the fact that God has been protecting them and that this break-in story could be minor but a big lesson for them. The sound that  one of them heard that night, could be a sound to alarm that something was happening. God works in mysterious ways. What would we be without our faith.

If you guys happen to experience break-ins and suffered from material loss – instead of making it worse by blaming one another, look at a bigger picture that – Thank God that you guys are safe. Look at it from the way how it has sided you that no one got hurt. Better yet, take the lesson to be more careful and never take things for granted. Being stupid once is enough. Wish everyone a safe life. :) Amen.