I'm Hacked Off

I'm really hacked off today. Actually, I've been hacked off for almost a week.  Last Tuesday, we discovered that our church had been broken into and robbed. 

The good Lord is still watching over Fourth Avenue Baptist - the robbers didn't vandalize nor tear up anything in the church except for the door handle on the refrigerator.  There are couches and chairs that they could have slashed, and they could have torn out new carpet.  But for some reason, they didn't.  Maybe the thieves had a conscience.  The thugs cut the padlock on the courtyard gate, and broke a basement window.  Once in through the window, they went through the catacombs, aka the dungeon, and came up by the sanctuary. 

Based on the items they took, it was as if they were furnishing an apartment: a big tv from our Sunday School room, a couple of brass urns, a few pairs of brass candle holders, a few pairs of sconces, my Dad's tool box, a small relaxatin fountain from the Pastor's study, and a big mirror.  From the refrigerator they took a couple cans of pop, and from the freezer they took a 5 pound box of frozen Old Folks sausage patties and two Lean Cuisine meals that Mom kept there for an emergency if they were working and had to stay late at church.  How low can you get?

We don't have any real suspects.  We could have gotten fingerprints from the refrigerator and from the empty pop cans they left in the church.  But without proof all they could be hauled in for would be receiving stolen property if they still had the items.  Our only hope is that they try to hock the tv - it was engraved with our church name in 3 different places, so hopefully the pawn broker would notice it and call it in. 

Our church may be small in numbers (we average about 30 every Sunday) but you'll be hard pressed to find a congregation with hearts as big as Fourth Avenue.  Through the generosity of members' bequests and offerings, this year we've been able to get the church in tip-top shape -- new lighting in the sanctuary, new carpet, a new central air unit, reupholstering on chairs in the sanctuary, and we're currently working on getting a new baptristy.  So we'll keep plugging along and doing the Lord's work at the corner of Fourth and Oak as long as we can.