So I'm reading through Isaiah 61 again this morning and come to v. 8 where it says I hate robery and a memory comes to me...

An officer standing in my room looking down in my closet and laughing.  He looked at me and pointed to the closet with a smile on his face and said "Why?"

Let me go back for a moment...

I told you guys that whatever book my bio father was reading at the time was what he so generously shared with us.  Well when I was 5 it was Oliver Twist.  You got!  We were taken to a store and he waited outside and he told us to go in and get whatever we could and then get back out to him.  My brother and I (a 5 year old and a 6 year old) went in and browsed at the wonder of the store.  Wow, take whatever we want?   We were so excited.   So we get our stuff and go back out to the car and start showing our items.  I notice my bio's face is stiff and red.  We had brought back toys and gum- our clothes had been full of them.  He was so angered that he did not speak all the way home where I will not go into the details of the beating that followed.

Next trip to the store we are given a list and the only thing he says is "nothing but what is on the list".   We head into the store and go over what is on it and decide to tear it in half that way we both have our own set of items.  We get our stuff and head back to the car.  There was one item I did not get because it was behind the counter and that was smokes.  When he saw that there was none he demanded that I go back in the store.  I came back with several packs but I had been terrified.

These trips continued and we were told to practice on our own.  I could climb a shelf without making a sound and by the time I was 8 I could walk out of a store with 6 cartons of smokes wrapped around my body.  When I came out with that many he laughed so hard.  Then he tossed me a carton.  I looked at him confused,  it's your reward, he said.  Needless to say I started smoking that day.

Jewelry was my own personal item.  I got to where I could empty a rack without being noticed and I did it everywhere I went.  I would go home and pick out the stuff I wanted to wear and the rest went into bags in the closet. 

So the police showed up at the door one day, lol.  One store that I had stopped at every week for almost a year and emptied the rack finally put in a security camera.  Lo and behold it lead them to little ole me. 

The officer starts asking all these questions.  He assumes that I do not have any of the stuff and had given it friends and such.  I told him oh no, I have it all and open my closet to show him the whole bottom of my closet is lined with grocery bags full to the top of jewelry.  There were eight.  On the top of each bag were the things I liked and wore on occasion but then were put back with the rest of it.  All he could do was laugh when he saw it. 

Now the "Why?" 

Thinking for a moment... and not wanting to go into the history of it all.  I just replied simply "Because I can."  Which for some reason made him laugh even harder.  I do not remember the whole conversation after that because I was so nervous but I do know that he asked me who taught me.  I told him.  He explained to me that stealing is wrong.  I respected his candor and honesty with me so much that I never took another thing.

He let me take some of the items that had been worn and were my favorite to keep because he said they won't believe it when I bring all this back.  Everything still had their tags on it.

"The Lord loves justice!" 
He sent an officer to me that was so sweet and understanding to show me the truth.
"I will direct their work in truth" 

God is good.