Sneaky Thieves love Christian products

I'm really not very happy right now. I just found out that some items were stolen from our store. They did it right under our noses too.
It's always disturbing to me that people would steal stuff from a Christian Bookstore. I caught an older lady stealing a DVD from us last fall. I had to confront her about it, and as she gave the DVD back to me she said, "Oh well. Hard times. God Bless."

I'm not kidding.

The DVD was The Passion of the Christ. Widescreen.

Again, I'm not kidding.

The next day I called our local security company and had them install a security tag system at the entrance of our store. I noticed that not as much stuff was missing after the security system was installed. But unfortunately it can't stop real thieves.

That's who came in the store today.

I was walking around the store, checked on the bible section and noticed an empty bible box on the shelf. No bible to be found. Navy bonded leather, New Living translation, Life Application bible, ON SALE for $59.97 I might add. But the thief apparently needed a bible but not the box. I'm thinking it was easier to put it in their coat without the box. I also found a security tag ripped off of something else, and I wondered what else they stole. I looked around the area to see what was small but expensive, and got my answer right away.

The NIV/KJV Bookman, $79.99 price tag. Missing.

Even before the security system was installed, the main things getting stolen were DVD's and CD's. Not bibles.

I was pretty angry for the next hour. I prayed a lot. I don't like to be angy. I wondered if the thief would read the bible. They can't return it anywhere, it doesn't have a box! As for the bookman...
I got on the phone right away and called another Christian bookstore that's about 15 minutes from our store, and told them to be on the lookout for someone trying to return a bookman, and gave them the ISBN for it.
Who knows, maybe we might catch the crook. But, odds are, we won't.

I feel torn. I'm angry because someone stole stuff from our store. I'm sad that it was bibles. I would gladly give anyone a bible that asked for it. We keep copies at the store for just such a purpose. I just don't understand what would drive a person to steal bibles. It's way beyond my ability to comprehend.

Then again, I'm not exactly innocent of sin either. Most people don't realize that when they sin, it has a ripple effect, like a drop of water in a pond. Sin doesn't just effect the one who is committing the sin. The sin ripples out and hits everyone around them, people the sinner knows and people the sinner doesn't know. Bowling over the guilty along with the innocent.

I'm still hoping the missing bible gets opened up and read by the one who took it.

~Shane