The Mail Thief


Well, here's a story from the file of "Things you can't make up."

On my drive home today, I spent a lot of time meditating on what it means to show mercy. What kind of actions resemble those of a merciful person?

In the upcoming year, I will be taking an unpaid internship, and as a part of that internship, Allison and I have to raise support. We are looking for people to support our mission. In order to help market myself for support raising, I ordered 100 postcards from Vistaprint.com.

As I concluded my drive home today and began to turn my car around and park, I saw something. While I was still driving I saw a package sticking up out of my mailbox. I watched a man walk up to my porch, grab the package, and then ride away on a bike he had parked on the corner.

Stunned, I park my car and get out, running over to the sidewalk where he was making his escape. I yelled out twice, "Hey!" but he was too far off down the block on his bicycle. 

Because I have watched too many action movies, I decided to get in my car and chase this guy down. I jut to the end of an intersection and three blocks down I see his bike round the corner. After making my way through a few stop signs, and scanning every intersection along the way, I see a flash of movement two blocks east of my location. I wrap my car around the intersection and make my way towards the man on the bike.

As I approach, I see a big plastic bag hanging off his handlebar, and my package is inside! I yell from my car window, "Hey! Did you just take a package off my mailbox?"

He jukes me. I can hear him yell, and he tells me it doesn't concern me. "It's my mail," I think to myself - I'm pretty sure it concerns me. He continues to frantically bike away from me. I can tell he wasn't expecting to be caught!

What follows is a hot pursuit - he on his bike, and me in my car. He manipulates the smaller stature of his vehicle, wisely implementing the alleys all around this eastern Saint Paul neighborhood. I am able to head him off a few times, but kids getting off the school bus give him the extra time he needs to escape. Throughout the pursuit, I'm seeking answers, "Was that my package? Why did you take it?"

Eventually, I return home dejected. He has my package. I come upstairs to check the tracking, and sure enough - my postcards were delivered today. Here is what I had ordered:


Front 
Back



I'm glad I was meditating on the practice of being a merciful person today, because it made forgiving this mail thief quite easy. Well, that and the fact that he just stole 100 support raising postcards with mine and Allison's face on them. I can't imagine he'll find those very useful.

Mail thief, you are forgiven. I hope you enjoy the postcards, and I hope God shows himself to you through hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ and you come to faith. AMEN.

THE END

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