Last night, after a great two and a half hour dinner with colleagues, I went to my car and discovered it had been broken into. The back window broken and my briefcase…with laptop and student’s final papers…gone.

Stunned, I returned to the restaurant to talk with the hostess, call the police and then returned to my violated car for my drive home.

Last night’s disbelief turned into a day filled with calls to file claims, get repair work done and trying to figure out what I can actually recover and what’s gone for good.

I’ll make it. The physical things will be replaced or repaired. Much of my work lives somewhere in virtual space. The biggest loss is my writing from this summer’s leave…work ‘in process’ but not finished. For that I’ll grieve and move on.

The first question that entered my mind last night has become the nagging one … Who does this? More than my loss, I was reminded of the brokenness of our world – a brokenness which lives right beside much goodness.

And that’s the message of Christmas. God entered a world where brokenness and goodness live alongside each other. Sometimes goodness interrupts brokenness, and sometimes it is the other way around.

Today, I’m praying for those who are in such a broken place that they have to break into cars. And I’m praying for those who know loss on a personal level today.

Thanks God for coming into this world, such as it is.

Terri