A True Belgian Experience

I was reading this morning Elder Benar's talk about 'Watching with All Perseverance'. "Spiritual warnings should lead to increasingly vigilant watching. You and I live in 'a day of warning'. (DC 63:58). Apostle Paul admonished , 'watching with all perseverance'. Also he quoted from the Word of Wisdom: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you.

It really hit home, because we had an episode last night where we were caught NOT vigilantly watching. And we were caught by the evils and designs of conspiring men. Around 1am I was in a deep sleep (and I can really go into a deep sleep!) but I was awakened by some noise, and then in my stupor of thought, I detected laughing and walking and the beams from small flashlights. I raised up on my elbow and right at that moment a beam from a flashlight went straight onto my face! We had robbers in the house! But I couldn't focus fast enough. I really thought it was Nicole or maybe her friends??? Anyway, I got out of bed and threw on a robe and walked out into the house. By then I was alert and I started to get scared. I could still hear some scurrying feet. But they were just out the door at that point.

(What did I see when they flashed the light on my face? All I could see was a striped T-shirt. And about 3 young adult men. They only laughed so I didn't hear any specific language.)

I called up to Nicole who was still awake and at the computer. She heard noises as well but thought it was Dad up getting a drink of water or something. We all were canvasing the house to see what the damage was. Turns out they stole the laptop, the camera, and a projector (that belonged to the church). Nicole called the police and they came over and we think they came in through the front picture window. Because it is really hot here, we leave the windows cracked, thinking it was sate. However, after fooling with the door, we realized you could slip your finger on the inside just a bit to loosen the lock of the stationary door and then force the whole door open.

We made out the police report and finished about 2am.

So this talk by Elder Bednar had quite the impact this morning. Sometimes we can get complacent about our spiritual safety as well. I had to ask myself if the Savior came today, would I be caught by surprise? Am I in a deep spiritual sleep and don't recognize warnings? Am I vigilant enough about my spiritual safety? I was completely unprepared to be robbed of temporal things. Am I completely unprepared spiritually, could I be robbed of the blessings I so desperately desire???

So I DO feel blessed. Even though we were robbed, we were unhurt. Things can be replaced. But we will be more vigilant about our windows, that's for sure! And I hope I will be more vigilant about my spiritual safety as well!