Pay it Forward: Or in other words...get free donuts, witness a burglary, notify the police, catch a thief

After dropping Jonah off for his first day of school last week, I took Hannah on a little mommy/daughter date to our favorite donut shop. Kim's Donut shop doesn't just make donuts. They create works of art. Seriously. I once took a picture of my donut because it looked so pretty.

See?

A donut that looks this good is bound to taste good. Mmmm.

Well anyhoo, this time when we showed up at Kim's donut shop, we ordered and got ready to pay and a man came up to the register and told me to put my money away. He then proceeded to pay the cashier for my donuts and chocolate milk. He told us that someone once paid for his donuts and he wanted to do the same for someone else. He told the cashier to keep the change and then he left. I thanked him as he left, but I was a little taken back so I may not have thanked him very enthusiastically. I explained to Hannah that the man was very kind and we had just been the beneficiaries of a random blessing. What a kind man. Weird, but kind. It's just not every day that random strangers do something nice just because someone once did something nice for them. Pay it forward, I guess.

I didn't plan on buying someone else's donuts in the future in order to continue "paying it forward." That's not really my cup of chocolate milk. I remember telling Hannah that maybe we should do something nice for someone else someday to continue the blessing. I pushed it aside.

Then today happened.

Today was Hannah's first day of Pre-K. To celebrate my kid-free day, I decided to meet Joey for lunch. We met up at the mall to walk around for a bit. I had to leave a little before Joey, so I walked out to the parking lot alone. I noticed that the back door of the empty Suburban next to my car was open. "Strange", I thought. As I started to get into my car, another car pulled up behind me. A man jumped out and into the back of the Suburban and took something. He then quickly jumped back into his car and sped off.

I witnessed a burglary, my friends. I-WITNESSED-A-BURGLARY.

As my moral fibers tend to stand on end when I see injustice, I quickly stepped back into the road and aimed my best scowl toward the fleeing car. (Because a scowl from a threatening person like me is enough to make a thief stop in his tracks.) I honestly don't know what I was thinking.

But I was thinking, because as the thief drove away in his white car, I read his license plate. Out loud. Over and over. I ran to my car to get a notepad and pen so I could write it down. My phone rang. I answered by shouting the license plate numbers into the phone. I was in Jack Bauer mode. Or better yet, Sidney Bristow mode.

I know the feeling of being robbed. It's no fun. It is a feeling of violation. I knew the owners of this Suburban would feel that violation soon. The least I could do would be to give them a head start to catching their thief. So I left them a note. I gave them all the info of what I witnessed, along with the license plate number, my name and phone.

Joey made it to the parking lot and called the police. I had to leave to pick up Hannah from school, and as I left the parking lot, a white car pulled out behind me. It followed me for about a mile while I tried not to think about it. I was still shaking. Thankfully, they turned off. Probably not the same white car, but it sure got my heart pumping.

About an hour and a half later, I got a call from the Police. It sounded like they had someone in custody. The officer had watched the surveillance tapes and he confirmed the burglary. He asked me to be a witness and I agreed.

I'll probably never meet the owners of that Suburban. They may or may not get their stuff back. I don't expect a thank you. They were violated today and that has to hurt. The best I can hope for them is that they won't believe the whole world is corrupt like the thief who stole their stuff; that they will recognize that some random stranger did something nice for them... just because. Maybe it was because some stranger did something nice for her one day. Some day, in their own way, they may get the chance to do something nice for someone else. Pay it forward.

The thief is on my mind tonight. My prayer for him is not that he get some kind of reverse negative pay it forward. No, my prayer for him is the same for all sinners. That he, like me, would recognize that he is a sinner in need of a Savior. That he would experience grace and forgiveness. That getting caught today would serve as his wake-up call. Scripture shares a bit about the two thieves crucified on either side of Christ. One responded in humility, admitting his sin and asking for Christ's forgiveness. The other responded in pride, mocking others and rejecting Christ. Today's thief has the same choice. I pray he makes the right one.