Believing is seeing

This past Tuesday I received a call from Shiloh and he was very upset. He was in the cafeteria and set down his backpack to order lunch. When he came back two minutes later his backpack was gone. In the backpack was his laptop, math book, writing book, homework, term notes, syllabi, money, thumb drive, and the only copy of his paper he had just recieved from his teacher to rewrite. He was very angry, and rightfully so. His friends from student government helped him search the campus, but it was a futile search - the backpack was gone.

When he called me and told me what had happened I tried to stay calm and to calm him down. As soon as I hung up the phone I went to the only person I knew could help - Jesus. For one of the only times in my life I was able to step out of the situation and really look at the situation from His perspective (with limited information). I prayed that whoever had taken the backpack would not only feel convicted, but more importantly would feel the love of God overwhelm him/her. I prayed that God would use this situation to further his Kingdom and this story would go on to magnify His name.

After I was done I tried to work on my homework, but couldn't concentrate. I called Shiloh and said that I would come out to the campus and do what I could; I couldn't do anything really except be there to comfort him. I arrived and went directly into the cafeteria and opened my laptop to work on homework that desperately needed to be done. However, all I could do was look around and pray. Since the time that Shiloh had called me I had not only felt peace over the situation, but I also KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt that we would get it back. There were times when I would get a little spirit in me that would say "how are you going to pay for a new book and a laptop?", but within the next minute I would dismiss the thought because I knew he would get it back.

He decided to come home and try to watch some TV (he couldn't do homework). He calmed down after a while and went about the day as normal. That night around 9 or 9:30 we received a call from security at the school. They found his backpack in a classroom with everything in it (even the laptop and his money). Nothing at all was damaged or taken! The security guard was completely flabergasted. He said that he has never seen a situation like this where something has been stolen and then found completely.

Praise Jesus! To Him be all the glory forever and ever, Amen!