Thief in the house!

I almost became a victim of burglary last Sunday. Thank God the burglar’s plan didn’t succeed!


I slept overnight at my parent’s place last Saturday and went back home Sunday evening. After attending the church service in the morning, I had to do some pictorial for our news magazine cover in the afternoon. The intruder sensed that there was no one in the house so he planned the break-in Sunday afternoon. Or he probably noticed our big padlock, the size of a man’s fist, on our small red gate. I couldn’t really tell what it was that caught his attention to our house. It’s just a tiny and plain apartment adjacent to bigger apartments.

Maybe he just wanted to try his luck. But lady luck wasn’t on his side that afternoon. First, it was a bad idea to intrude during broad daylight where the neighbors can easily see him. Second, he didn’t know that the caretaker of the apartments has a key of our gate padlock and usually checks on our place because the water tank, which supplies all water for all adjacent 4 apartments, is located in our place, a few steps from our gate. Third, our neighbor, whom I don’t know personally, saw him jump over our short and small gate. The neighbor then called the attention of our caretaker, and when the caretaker opened our padlock, the burglar panicked and climbed the water tank and jump over a wall to escape. The neighbor recognized the face of the burglar, saying he was the same person who robbed another neighbor. But after this neighbor got back his belongings, he forgave the thief, he didn’t charge him anything which leaves the local cops no choice but to free the thief. Unfortunately, the notorious burglar didn’t learn his lesson and was out to victimize others. Thank God I wasn’t included in the burglar’s list of mission accomplished!

I really thank God for protection. He kept me away from harm. If I was in the house that afternoon, who knows what could have happened to me. (Or what I could do to that burglar! I could have shouted so loud that the decibel of my voice would be enough to chase him away, hehe.) Other neighbors have noticed already that I’m home alone whenever hubby leaves abroad for 2-3 months. And I also thank God for protecting our house. And I thank God for this experience, because He only showed me once again that His word, from the biblical times up to now, is still so true. That particular Sunday, our pastor mentioned in passing through his preaching that we must not be worrywarts when it comes to leaving our house so that we can attend the church, because when we trust God that even our homes are safe, harm won’t come to our doorstep, especially when we are out of our house to work for Him.

He also mentioned the scripture in Psalm 127 that “except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” In biblical times, house may refer to a building or family such as House of David, House of Abraham, etc. In this experience, I’d say this verse applies to me as well. I’d say this apartment was “established” by God for us. We chose to live this year in this southern part of Manila, though it’s far from my family and friends, because we decided that after I resigned from work, I’d like to serve God by being more active in the church and taking key roles, so we need a place that’s just a few minutes away from the church. We almost gave up our hunt for a nearby place that time because all decent-looking apartments were occupied within the vicinity. When we saw this place, we wanted it badly because it’s inexpensive and it looks well maintained by the landlords. But the caretaker then said it was being reserved for the landlord’s relative. But we prayed for the perfect place for us. The week after, we checked on apartments again and tried to convince the landlord’s secretary to give it to us by paying in advance, the landlord gave in. So here we are. At first, I thought it was bothersome that the water tank had to be located just outside our apartment but within our gate, because either us or the caretaker had to open and close the water tank at certain times of the day. Little did I know that because of this water tank, in a way, the burglar’s plan failed. And the Lord’s word succeeded! Thank you very much Jesus for keeping me and our house safe all the time.

Garbage story

Taking care of our garbage was never my problem before until we moved to this apartment this year. In condominiums, you just throw and push every stinking item you have down into the garbage chute. But in communities like this, you wait for the dump truck to honk and wake every sleepy nerve in your body in the early morning. Because if you don’t get out of bed immediately, you would miss your once-in-a-lifetime chance to hand your garbage to the garbage men, oh boy. When hubby is around, he takes care of this. With an unbelievable adrenaline rush, he jumps out of bed, changes his shorts and shirt (which, by the way, is my little request since I’m paranoid that the odor of the neighborhood’s trash and the viruses from the bugs and flies would stick to his clothes, which I’d be embracing once he returns to bed! Eww.), then chases the garbage men.
But hubby’s not been around since last month, so I have to do the dirty job. Which stinks, which I hate.

So it’s not surprising that I have never met the garbage men up to now. Or was it me who waited at our gate one time? Darn, I was too sleepy to even remember. And as expected, my trashes have accumulated the past 2 weeks. Oh yes, can you imagine the ants, the mosquitoes, even the spiders and lizards rejoicing over their growing treasure at our backyard? And I shouldn’t forget the stray cat, who manages to squeeze its body to the slim gaps in our gate whenever it smells the trash. Looks like everybody’s happy except me, huh?

My only hope is the little kids who knock at every gate and door, shouting “ate, ate patapon.” These kids, probably between 6- to 9-years old, would collect garbage from villagers like me who didn’t catch the elusive garbage men the past few days. In exchange, you’ll hand them a few pennies, or for others, loose change. But unlike the garbage men, these kids don’t have a schedule, they just show up whenever they want. The past few days, I heard them shouting their services, “patapon, patapon.” But blame it on the extreme heat, I was moving quite slowly, that I even missed the kids knocking on my gate. Quite pathetic, I know. But a few minutes ago, I heard them loud and clear though their voices sounded far, so I opened my door even before they can knock. Gosh, I was too excited to clear my garbage, whoever thought that throwing garbage can perk me up like this, hehe? Now, I smell a sweet sense of victory! Thanks to the kids, my garbage woes are over, temporarily.