Today’s blog is an excerpt from Jerry Leachman’s new book, Brave Hearts, Strong Arms. Jerry will be speaking at our breakfast this Friday, September 25 at The Country Club of Birmingham. The event is free but we ask that you register here.

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Holly and I dedicated everything we had to the Lord one day when my mentor challenged me on that. I didn’t know what I was getting in for because three weeks later I came home from work to find our carport door was smashed in, and most everything we had was gone. I was a new Christian, and I didn’t know how to speak Christianese, so I’ll quote my exact words: “Well, son of a bitch.” That’s exactly the way I felt about the whole thing. I had listened to that preacher, and Holly and I had dedicated to God all our stuff, and a couple of idiots had come in here and stolen a whole van full of God’s stuff. I guessed God wanted it back. When my Holly came home from work, I was in the front yard whistling. I just had to laugh. I was not in despair. I started to get the formula; my hope really wasn’t in that stuff. We all need to stop putting our faith in things that can be taken away! You could say, well, that’s easy for you to say since you did not really have that much, but if you deal with percentages, it was just about 100 percent of what we had. And you know what? The truth is, a lot of that stuff was really great! They literally had pulled a van in, loaded it up and left. Why did they pick us? Holly and I started laughing when I said, “Holly, just think of this. Two idiots are riding down the road with a van full of God’s stuff that they just stole! Duhhh!”

The sheriff came, and Holly was whistling in the kitchen. She had found a pan they didn’t take and some spaghetti noodles they didn’t take, and she was cooking spaghetti. We had a can of Prego, and, praise God, we were in business. Finally, the sheriff put his pen down and said, “What’s going on here?” He said, “I do a couple of these a day, and your wife is in there whistling?”

I said, “Well you asked me the question. Then you have to listen to the answer.” And he got an earful. Our hope is not in this world.

The sheriff said that it was now clear that God had sent him and his partner here tonight; he said his partner had killed a guy in the line of duty and had been in despair and depressed ever since. His partner was sitting right there, laser-locked, looking at me. The sheriff added, “Now tell us about this hope you’re talking about.”

I told him that people who put their hope in things that can and will be taken away live a life of fear and anxiety trying to delay the mo­ment that all is lost. People that have no hope are cynical, depressed and end in despair. People who put their hope in pretend things will be let down and crushed in the end. If I’ve learned anything about life in this three-dimensional world, it is that there is a beginning, a middle and an end. Many people pretend that there is not an end. That’s pretend.

The truth is, all of this will come to an end. All that you have had will be taken away. Then what? God will be the judge of what’s next.

I said that Holly and I have put our faith in something that will never be taken away from us.

The sheriff said, “What is it?”

I said, “Jesus Christ.” He is eternal and can never be taken from us. He has us in His loving arms and will never let go. The furniture was always temporary. Jesus is forever.

The sheriff looked at me and said, “You know I’m Jewish.”

I said, “Terrific!!! Jesus is Jewish!!!”

The sheriff was like, “What?!! You mean he is one of our guys?”

I said, “Yes, totally. It’s no accident you two walked in here to­night. It was to receive the news that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and He is calling you to put your faith in Him. He loves you and can and will take all of your sorrows and your pain away and your sins away and make you His boys forever! Why, I now think our stuff was stolen to have you two walk in this door. “Now here is the last thing I will tell you. Jesus said those who truly search for Me will find Me. When you lie down tonight, ask Him to come to you, and receive His love for you. He will! Keep us posted.”

They did, and Jesus came.

P.S. Now we have more stuff. Guess who owns it?

Jerry Leachman’s book, Brave Hearts, Strong Arms is a available on Amazon, our website and locally at Seibel’s in Homewood. For more information on Jerry and his ministry, go to leachmanministries.org