A Rat and a Saint in the same neighborhood

I've recently discovered some new characters running around my neighborhood. 

The first was the Rat...

About 2 weeks ago, I went out to get in my car to head over to an open house.  I got in the car and immediatley noticed my purse wasn't in there.  Or my phone.  I guess I should back track a little.  My car was in the driveway, and the night before, my family and I had come home from a shopping trip and unloaded a lot of stuff.  I remember seeing my phone in the cup holder, and my purse was down in the passenger floor area.  But my hands were full.  I told my husband to just lock the car and I'd get the stuff in the morning.  Well, guess who forgot to lock the car??

Anyways, I get in the car for the open house and notice my purse and phone are gone.  I ran back inside on the off chance they were in the house, but no luck.  So I headed off to my open house.  And truth be told, I bawled my eyes out the whole way there!  I started to take stock of everything in my purse...

Some makeup...no biggie

Extra keys, including a set of HUD keys and keys to my church, of which I am very active

Pictures of my kids... Yeah, this one bothers me

My drivers license, my bank card, my checkbook...OUCH!

My Christopher and Banks gift card I was saving for a rainy day.  Have any of you ever been to Christpher and Banks??  This is the most painful loss of all, I tell you.

I felt very violated, not to mention concerned about all my personal information being Lord knows where.  And mad.  There was a stealing rat, right in my very own car!

But I was fortunate enough to meet a different type of character in this adventure as well....

The Saints...

About 2 weeks later, after closing my bank account and getting a new license and a new phone and all the other good stuff I had to do to get my name back and protect my money and my identity, I get a call.  Some nice folks just around the corner from me were out walking their dog, and found a purse in the ditch.  It was wet, muddy and rifled thru. And it was mine. They took it home, found my name on a business card inside, and called me.   

There wasn't much left in the purse worth a lick, EXCEPT...my gift card!  Woo hoo! It was still in there.  It would have been easy enough for this lady to take the gift card and the few other items that remained, but she didn't.  They called and I stopped by and picked up the purse.

I live in the gated community of LAKENGREN, near Eaton Ohio.  It is, for all inents and purposes and very nice, SAFE neighborhood.  But no matter where you turn, there will always be a few rats scurrying about, looking for a free crumb.  But the world is mostly made up of the Saints, just like my neighbors, and I'm thankful for this fact.

And if there's a lesson to be learned from this, what is it? 

Well, after much thought and consideration, I'd say if you do leave your purse in an unlocked vehicle overnight, PLEASE make sure you take out your gift cards!! :)