WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD USE THEIR BRAINS

I learned a hard lesson thirty years ago. God's angels  aren't my personal security guards. Had I taken charge of the situation by securing the windows myself, I wouldn't have lost almost three hundred dollars.

As I opened the door to the taxi parked outside my basement suite, I saw somebody sitting on the steps to the main floor of the house.  I assumed it was one of the tenants' friends since people often came and went from their place. After telling the driver to take me to the Edmonton Convention Centre, my thoughts were only about the good time I'd have at the Amway convention.

My sponsor, her mother, and I did enjoy the conference, particularly the a cappella group. The Nylons were an up-and-coming vocal harmony group during the early eighties. They performed their songs between Amway speakers.

After having a lovely supper at a restaurant, the three of us parted company. I arrived home and noticed that something didn't look right. When I walked up to a red object and examined it, I saw that it was the bowl I placed under a potted plant. Not only were both things tossed carelessly on the grass but the outside window had been removed and left leaning against the house. Then it sunk in that my suite had been broken into.

The police officer who came to my place dusted for fingerprints and photographed the window which had been removed. He also told me it was unwise to leave so much cash under my waterbed's mattress. I had that cash ready so I could buy the washing machine from the landlord.

My sponsor wasn't sympathetic either. When I asked why God hadn't protected my place, she said, "Because he expects you to use your brain. Remember what the sign said in that Amway film? 'This machine has no brain. Use yours.'"

From that day onward, I've taken the security of my home seriously. I've done what I could to install security systems over the years and I make sure that windows are secured. Like we used to say on the CB, "I send out my signal twenty-six miles and the Lord does the rest." It's impossible to have a completely safe home but people can do as much as they can to deter casual criminals.

I wrote in greater detail about my involvement in Amway as well as a blasphemous house church in my newly-published memoir, How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Please check it out at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm.