Luke 22:21 New Living Translation (NLT)
21 “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me.
Yesterday, after our son and his friends (two brothers) played a few games of tag football & Minecraft on the WiiU he asked if they could stay for lunch. We said “sure, but you’re going to have to bake some more rolls for sandwiches.” With a little help from his dad, lunch was served and my man returned to the living room to join the rest of our family. The three boys talked and ate at the kitchen table until they left to go play in the neighborhood creek. A few minutes later, they came back to retrieve their bikes for a ride.
Meanwhile, it was time for a –day- after- Christmas- I’ve –eaten- too- much- and- laid- around- in- my- pj’s- for- 24- hours – walk through the neighborhood. Off with the jammies and into my yoga pants! I go to grab my iPhone from the entry table (near the side door that our son and his friends always enter/exit the house), but it wasn’t there.
“Honey, can you please call my phone…”
Silence.
The family joined in the search through the entire household
No phone.
Radio our son on the walkie talkie “have you seen my phone?” “No, mom.”
Login to iCloud on my MacBook. Find my iPhone. Offline. Locate. Maps begins searching… Resume search through the house. Walkie our son again. “Can you ask the boys if they’ve seen my phone?” “They’re gone. They said they had to go to their dads” Sucker punch in the soul. “Come home… now.”
(in my head) No. NO. NO! One of those boys wouldn’t betray me. Our son has been their friend. We’ve welcomed them into our home. We’ve conversed with them. We’ve feed them. We’ve driven them home at night after playing all afternoon. No. NO. NO!
Our daughter yells “Mom, your phone has been located.” Not our home address. Last known location: near the boy’s home. My man and our son drive over. The bikes are in the front yard, but no one answers the door. They follow the iMap last known address to an abandoned house nearby and search the area. No phone. A friend of ours that works with the Sheriff’s office joins in the search. Still no phone.
Send “lost” signal & place device in lost/stolen mode. Delete content. Suspend usage through Verizon. Report theft to credit card companies (Apple Pay).
Realization: I have been a victim of a crime…in our home….while at home….betrayed by a “friend!”
Revelation: I am not a victim- I am a child of God (identity). I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. God will use this for His glory and my good.
Call the police.
File a report.
Officer returns from questioning the boy’s mother (she said they had been at their father’s home all day).
Gather our family into the living room to pray.
Forgive.
Ask the Holy Spirit to bring conviction & confession.
Rebuke the enemy.
Declare God’s goodness!
My man and I finally made it out for that walk, but within minutes of our departure an unknown car follows us, parks, and an angry, embarrassed mother calls to us. She prompts her son to speak. He confesses. After several minutes of conversation about Jesus, character, friendship and betrayal we tell him he is forgiven and we won’t press charges. I ask to hug the mother and whisper blessing and encouragement into her ear as she cries. My man shakes the young man’s hand and says “this is finished. You owe us nothing. Don’t do it again.”
John 13:21-27 New Living Translation (NLT)
21 Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”
22 The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. 23 The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table. 24 Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, “Who’s he talking about?” 25 So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. 27 When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”
The phone was returned and has been completely restored through Apple and Verizon. But there’s a place in my heart for that young man- that child- that isn’t restored. Forgiven, but no longer trusted. While sitting at this table, 
eating bread with our son, Satan entered… and when he was departing, he was tempted: His eyes saw my iPhone. His flesh wanted it. His pride convinced him that he deserved it. And he made a choice to steal it. He made a choice to betray me. He made a choice to betray the family that has loved him as a neighbor, as Jesus commands.
But we will choose to continue to love this broken young man. We will choose to continue to pray for him, his mother and his siblings. And if the Lord prompts us, we will choose to pursue a relationship with him with the understanding that our love is free, but our trust must be earned.
I’ve been blogging for more than a decade. Scratch that. I’ve been “blogging” since I was a kid. In the 80’s I just didn’t share my thoughts with the world. They remained locked up in my diary. In the early 90’s they were kept on printed paper, courtesy of my cool typewriter. In the 21st century they ‘got mail’ as I began sending paragraphs of my life lessons to family and friends electronically. I don’t remember when or how I was introduced to this online journal called a blog. But for whatever reason, I decided to join the community. I created a homeschool blog and wrote about…you guessed it, homeschooling! In 2010 I shut that site down and launched a marriage blog in conjunction with our ministry founded that same year…posting about, yep- marriage. That blog was also shut down and replaced with this one. Now I’m just a blogger who shares a journey of trusting God in life, marriage, parenting, homeschooling and ministry. Morning after morning I sit in our comfy office chair with a cup of coffee (cream, no sugar), bible and composition book. Some days the pages remain blank. Other days the words flow from my heart faster than the pen can release its ink on the paper.
Recently, a child of ours (who shall remain nameless in order to protect his/her identity!) was dutifully completing their morning chores and independent homeschool work for the day. Halfway through our lesson together however, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper that all the required subjects had not been completed. I stopped what we were doing and instructed the child to retrieve their school schedule. I asked about the first assignment,
Although I was raised in a Christian home, attended Sunday school, church services, VBS and youth group, I didn’t believe in the Lord until I was 9 months pregnant with our first child. Feeling like a beached whale lying on our bed, waves of tears streamed down my face as the reality of my separation from God began to crash over me. I knew I was completely unworthy of being loved and forgiven. Yet, at the urging of my husband, I poured out my sorrow to the Lord, confessed my sin, and proclaimed His Kingdom come, His will be done in my life.
Yet over the course of the next year and a half, we began to know- and love one another. And by the time my wedding day dawned, he had accepted me as a daughter, adopting me into his family on a warm spring day in 1996. Fifteen months later he had a massive heart attack. The family patriarch was gone.
Submit your will to the Lord and ask Him to deliver you from evil!!!
Deep Into the Water 