People steal all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons. Some steal out of necessity, such as to put food on the table. Some steal for the challenge or adrenaline rush: the person who steals not because he needs to, but because he wants to. While both of these reasons are wrong, one has to wonder what is going through the head of someone who steals nativity scene pieces from the local church. While this is usually the result of a prank of some sorts, and hopefully not done out of religious devotion, when it happens, it can really take some of the enjoyment out of the Christmas season for church members. This is where Brickhouse Security has found a little niche in the GPS locating market.
A New Way to Find Jesus
Churches are always looking for new ways to bring Jesus to people, but Brickhouse Security has a novel approach to nativity scene thefts that will help bring Jesus back to the church. During the recent Christmas season, Brickhouse allowed qualifying churches to use their GPS locating devices free of charge to help track down any figurine that disappears due to theft. The device is a small sending unit that is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and can easily be hidden in almost any size nativity scene piece. If the piece shows any movement through the GPS sending unit, a member of the church can be alerted via text message and then the item can be found through GPS tracking.
A More Widespread Problem than You Would Think
While your own church may not have been the victim of this kind of theft, it is not a problem specific to any one location. Apparently, the problem is widespread enough that TV news stations in both New Jersey and Illinois ran reports on the problem. Unfortunately, a precursory Google search for “nativity scene stolen” returns results that show that this problem is occurring coast to coast in America. Hopefully, as more people find out about the possibility of GPS devices being located in the nativity scene statues, the number of thefts will go down. Unfortunately, if no one knows about this, they might be able to find the thieves, but it will not prevent the thefts from happening in the first place.
| Nativity Scene Thefts in the News for 2013 | |
| Location | Item Stolen |
| Modesto, CA | Baby Jesus |
| Springfield, MO | Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph |
| Lincoln, NE | Baby Jesus |
| Basking Ridge, NJ | Baby Jesus |
| Olympia, WA | Baby Jesus |
| St. Joseph, MN | Baby Jesus |
| Long Island, NY | Wise Men |
You LoJack your car, so why not…
There are many GPS tracking devices out there, from LoJack to tracking your child through a wristwatch. There are many benefits to tracking your possessions. As mentioned above, people steal things for a variety of reasons. Whether you LoJack your car or laptop, there is a definite piece of mind that comes from know that your belongings can be tracked if they turn up missing. The same is true for nativity scene statues and figurines. These are important items for any church during the Christmas season, and losing the use of these statues has the ability to take something out of the Christmas season for the church goers and community.
The Technology is There
GPS tracking devices have become much more reliable over time and their prices are coming down to allow them to become more common. There are many different varieties of tracking devices that can be used for a variety of reasons. Almost anything you own that you want to keep track of can be tracked by a small GPS tracking device. They can now be used to keep tabs on your teenage children as they drive off in the family car. They can be used to locate your child when they get lost in the mall. They can be used to track your iPad if someone walks off with it. There are so many uses and ways to keep tabs that it is easy to see that GPS tracking will only continue to grow in its uses and availability in the coming years.
With all that is available with GPS tracking, it was only a matter of time before it was being used for something as simple as tracking stolen nativity scene pieces. The lesson here is that the next time you have an urge to play a prank on your local church, you might want to think twice before you walk off with Joseph or one of the wise men. As the Reverend Smith said in a news interview, “Of course God knows where they are, but now maybe we have a better chance to know as well.” With the GPS tracking, that knowledge for us is more certain.
A Guardian Angel for your Christmas Angel
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