No skills as a burglar

At 3:46 on the morning of Thursday, May 23, my cell phone rang.

I keep my cell phone on the small table beside my side of our bed. That’s so I can take security calls related to our church, or from one of our children who might have an unexpected challenge.

On May 23, the caller was my friend, Clint Smith. Clint and his wife, Madelyn, had experienced a couple of tough days. Madelyn had fallen. While the injuries from the fall were not life threatening, she ended up in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.

I was fearful when Clint called that something had gone wrong with Madelyn.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Clint was calling about his HVAC system. It seemed to be running nonstop, not cooling properly, and Clint could hear water running.

Clint wanted me to ride out to their home and check the system. Just so you know, I have no expertise in assessing HVAC systems anytime of the day.

I’ve known Clint a long tome. When I first took the property manager job at Trinity, Clint was the assistant property manager. He helped me to transition into this role. I have lots of respect for Clint’s wisdom.

I told him I would be there soon.

I dressed, grabbed a flashlight, typed the address into my phone, and headed toward Clint and Madelyn’s home.

While I had been there many times before, it was dark. Once in their neighborhood, I ignored the directions coming from my phone. I ended up turning one street too soon.

Clint had told me the front door would be unlocked. I parked. I walked up the steps to the front porch, and the front door was locked.

I decided to give Clint a quick call and that’s when I fully understood I’d come to the wrong house. I rapidly moved off that property.

Back in my car, I made the short drive to the correct house. The front door was open, and I found Clint inside.

He gave me some background about his HVAC system. His multiple calls to the company that services his HVAC system were met with no response. So, armed with my flashlight, I started to poke around.

Meanwhile, Madelyn in her ICU room was not asleep. She had her phone on. Her phone is linked to the security system for their home. On the phone’s screen, Madelyn had noted this unrecognizable person.

Madelyn alerted their across the street neighbor about the stranger, and the neighbor called Henrico Police.

Clint and I were oblivious to what Madelyn and the neighbor were orchestrating.

I continued to look for problems with the HVAC system. I was inside and outside.

Neither on the inside nor outside could I hear or see any problems with water running like described by Clint.

After sharing this with Clint, I went back outside to make sure that I had closed the gate properly to the backyard.

That’s when I noticed something unusual.

If I flashed the light from my flashlight into the backyard, another beam of light appeared.

I did this a couple of times, and each time, a flash of light came back toward the light cast by my flashlight.

Puzzled, I walked toward the light, and that’s when I encountered a Henrico County police officer.

I quickly gave the officer an account of what was going on.

By that time, his partner had arrived at the front of the house.

I walked my new friend into the house to meet Clint.

Thankfully, Clint confirmed to the officer what was taking place, and the officer conveyed Madelyn’s involvement.

At that point, I think we all were silently chuckling inside.

We thanked the officers for their patience and cooperation.

I said goodbye to Clint, and the officers walked toward their cars.

On my ride home, I deduced that I was not a good burglar prospect.

First, what kind of burglar would go out to work in the light of a full moon? Second, a burglar would not go to the wrong house.

And, the more I thought about this whole excursion, I realized how lucky I had been.
To begin with, going to the wrong house could have been a disaster. If I had awakened that homeowner, physical harm might have come to me.

With the police officers, I was lucky too. Neither of them was brandishing their firearms. Perhaps from their experiences, these officers knew the chances that a real burglar was in this neighborhood were slim.

And despite my luck on this early May morning, somewhere in America at 3:46 a.m. things had gone horribly wrong for a burglar. This person might have been caught by police, attacked by a security dog, wounded by a bullet, physically assaulted, or shot dead.

For those burglars who are unsuccessful, I wonder what caused them to pursue such a risky path? What went wrong in their lives that nudged them to become a thief? What were they lacking in their day to day living?

In David Halberstam’s book, The Teammates, he uncovers the differences in the home environments where Ted Williams was raised compared to Ted’s teammate, Bobby Doerr.

Bobby Doerr’s parents provided stability, care, and love for their son. On visits to the Doerr home, Ted constantly commented to Bobby “You just don’t know how lucky you are. You’ve got the greatest parents. Your dad is always watching out for you.”

That support was lacking in the Williams’ home. And even though Ted found success in baseball, I wonder if his sometimes gruff, cantankerous personality, and deep mood swings could have been softened with more stability in his home?

Despite his flaws, I think Ted Williams understood loyalty.

He was loyal to his teammates. Regardless of the dysfunctional home, Ted supported his mother financially, and he attempted to help his brother who made multiple bad choices.

Perhaps, that is why my friend, Clint, reached out to me at 3:46 a.m. on Thursday, May 23—loyalty.

Any loyalty that is in my old, soft heart came from my parents. They were loyal to each other, my sister and me, their siblings, friends, and the good Lord.

Their loyalty and love provided an irrefutable stability.

That stability kept me from the path of a burglar.

I was lucky.

I need to remember— not everyone I encounter had the luck of that loyal love and stability.
And, it would be a good idea for me to keep these simple words from Galatians Chapter 6, verse 2 on call in my ancient noggin’: “bear one another’s burdens.”