We live in a very connected world.

“Thanks for such a profound statement, Captain Obvious”, might be a thought going through your mind at the moment.

Online banking – smart phones – digital transfers – Apple Pay – PayPal – uploads, and downloads are all terms which could have jumped off the pages of an episode of the Jetsons a generation ago.

I love and embrace technology even though the world in which we live seems to spin faster and faster with the Merry-Go-Round apparently devoid of having on “Off” switch.

By the time you have one gadget figured out, an upgrade or a replacement has relegated the former to the corner of the room to sit on a stool and the learning curve has to be climbed once again.

With technology and its many benefits also comes risk.

The term, Identity Theft, was heretofore non-existent.

According to Zander Insurance, identity theft is characterized as follows:

“Identity Theft happens when your personal information, such as your name, social security number and date of birth, are used by thieves without your knowledge to commit criminal and fraudulent activity.”

Am I giving you a warm, fuzzy feeling yet?

A quick primer on ID theft can be found at Zander website, which I have linked to here as they answer some FAQ’s.

According to the 2012 Javelin Strategy and Research Report, over 11 million Americans became the victim of identity theft in the United States in 2011.

Also supplied are some additional key survey findings on ID theft if you care to review them.

In December, we were served up a pre-Christmas treat with the announcement of the Sony Pictures Data Breach.

In the fall of 2014, Home Depot experienced its own version of data breach chaos.

During the Christmas shopping season in 2013 a data breach at Target was a front page news story.

Last week one of the nation’s largest health insurers, Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield, became the latest target of an attack by hackers in which the information of approximately 80 million people became exposed.

So as not to incite a panic, I will stop here.

You get the picture.

Identity theft is problem we could not fathom in a less than connected world a few decades ago.

I recall working for a major hotel chain in the mid-1970’s while still in high school.

At that time, our idea of “connected” was the Petticoat Junction style switchboard by which we fielded incoming calls and through which outgoing calls were placed.

It was like working with telephonic spaghetti.

All of the information, stats, and articles on ID theft are fine and have their place.

However, it is when ID theft affects you personally is where the rubber meets the road and where pain and high doses of inconvenience intersect.

Although I am not being compensated for doing so, you may want to check out the ins and outs of an ID Theft insurance program like Zander’s if this is a concern in your world.

There is another form of ID Theft which has hit me personally and which also is a concern of mine which I witness in the lives of others.

It is Identity Theft of the not-so-digital variety.

This form of ID theft has one aim – to take you and me out to the woodshed and to leave us there, broken, bruised, and left for dead.

It places you and me in the center of the ring with repeated body blows, landing kidney punches at the core of who we are as people.

The intention of the assailant is to steal, kill, and destroy.

It is insidious and subtle.

Our identities are pounded into submission through thoughts like these:

• “My Daddy walked out on me as a young child – it was my fault.”

• “I am forty pounds overweight – I am such a slouch.”

• “I can’t seem to do anything right – there is no hope for me!”

• “Look at the success he or she enjoys – why am I such a loser?”

• “My bank account is nowhere near where I had hoped it would be – what’s wrong with me and why hasn’t life come remotely close to what I once envisioned?”

I recall a time in the mid-1990’s where my identity was hacked and it all but submerged my head, placing it under the water line where I was left gasping for air.

I carried myself like a walking dead man and in the process became sand paper to my wife and certainly rubbed off on my children as well.

I emphatically hated the picture which follows.  Most specifically, I hated how I looked in the picture!

Fortunately, what was once an abhorrence to me has now become a defining moment which helped me seek a turn around and helped me discover who I was made to be.

We often frequent the hiking trail where the picture was taken.  When walking by the spot, I now whisper a word of gratitude.

I was withdrawn, numb, and indifferent to most things. I was in a dark spot, lost.

I was a thirty-something guy with much to be thankful.  Internally, I was thankful.  However, the evidence was nowhere to be seen on the outside.

I awoke, went to work, did my thing, came home, did my thing, and went to bed.

The process was repeated in classic Groundhog Day fashion – over and over and over.

There was consternation at work with me assuming an IT role (with no formal training) due to a departmental reorganization. I was left with the option, or so I thought, to either take the new role or have no job.

I decided on the former. However, I was a square peg in a round hole.

I was searching for meaning and purpose.  It eluded my grasp for a while.

Most of what I did ate at my self-confidence, caused much stress, and left me dangling on the ropes from time to time.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

Can you relate?

Thank God for the opportunity to coach the girls basketball team on which all of my daughters played.

This gave me an outlet and a reprieve from the day-to-day insanity and allowed me to breathe from time to time.

God always answers prayers.

He answered mine in the form of hanging out with the basketball version of the Bad News Bears.

It was basketball at the foundational level.  I can recall saying things like:

• “The ball is orange.”
• “The goal is to get the ball through the hoop with the net and do so more than the other team.”
• “We have to stay inside the lines painted on the floor when we dribble.”  

We practiced layups for hours, looking like awkward basketball ballerinas in doing so!

We lost a lot of games, most by scores such as 61-3, 72-10, and 45-8.

The scores mirrored how I felt about life, losing and losing big.

However, I had to be the one to encourage those young ladies.

During and after the games, many tears were shed.  I always came prepared with Kleenex as I knew it would come in handy.

I had to constantly put a positive spin on the outcome of the game no matter how bad we lost.

Gradually, and through time, we improved and got a few wins under our belt.

By the end of my ten years of coaching our record improved to 90 wins, 76 losses.  A far cry from our first year record of 1-15!

In the end, it was not about the wins and losses. Our identity was not tied to the outcome of the game.

Our identity was tied to the fact that we played the game. Through time, our heads were held high no matter the outcome. 

Those young ladies were a joy to me and helped heal this fractured soul.

Another prayer of mine was answered in the form of a book, Waking the Dead, by John Eldredge.

The book helped me know the flip side of a Scriptural coin.

It helped me see there is a fierce battle for my heart and to embrace all God had for me.

In short, it offered me life!

I came to understand my identity was under assault.

I learned that my identity did not rest in what I did for a living, how much money I made or had in my bank accounts, or the people with whom I associated.

You are completely free to believe what you want to believe.

For me, I choose to rest my identity and believe the following:

“It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”(Galatians 2:20 NLT)

This is one of the many truths I came to absorb into my life as my identity was restored.

Other truths, similar to the ones listed here, became threads in my tapestry over time.

They helped me embrace the life God intended for me to live.

Jesus said:

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” John 10:10 (NLT)

A rich and satisfying life.

Isn’t this something we all would like to have?

That statement covers much territory and does not imply a life lived on a bed of roses.

It has everything to do with purpose and looking at ourselves through the eyes of the One who sees us through an entirely different set of glasses.

One who is far more forgiving than we are of ourselves, dismisses our mistakes, and is not exacting about our perceived or real shortcomings.

Jesus too was also the victim of an identity theft attack by the enemy during His temptation while spending forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert.

“If you are the Son of God...” was the arrow aimed at Christ’s heart and mind, attacking His identity on three separate occasions.

The account can be found here.

If your “identity” has been “stolen” and you have been left reeling in the wake of the boat and are about to go under the waves, there is Hope.

Hope is throwing you a Life preserver.

Grab hold of it and get above the water line. He wants to restore your identity which has been hacked.

• You were made in God’s image.
• You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
• Nothing can separate you from His love.
• He has great plans for you.

In the Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey wants to cash it all in as he faces a perceived banking scandal.

More succinctly, he is wallowing in the fact his life has not gone as he planned. The supposed scandal is the icing on the cake.

He declares he is “worth more dead than he is alive”.

He grabs hold of a life preserver, in the form a clumsy angel named Clarence, whom God has commissioned to help George in the process of “earning his wings”.

As the story unfolds, George gets to see his life through the lens of never having been born.

He comes to realize he truly has had a “wonderful life”.

He declares, “I want to live again”.

In non-monetary ways, he becomes the richest man in town and his perspective and his identity are recovered and altered.

If your identity and purpose has been stolen my prayer for you is this.

Speaks the words, “I want to live again”, and come to the awareness there is a rich and satisfying life available to you for the asking.

May I suggest a few things which can help?

• Pray.  He is listening.
• Be careful of your associations, but reach out to someone you know can help. A pastor, a rabbi, a trusted friend, or a counselor are solid options.
• In a recent post, I stated “you were meant to sing your song!” It’s time for you to do so!
• Learn the truth about yourself.  A truth defined how God sees you.  It can and will set you free.
• Guard your heart with all diligence so out of it will flow the springs of life!

Although we are all “works-in-progress“, living in the land of the Restored is a wonderful thing!

How has life thrown you some curves where your identity has been stolen and you had to hold onto a higher truth than you might have been living?

Pictures Courtesy of Bruce R. Cross and PhotoDropper / Graphic Enhancement Courtesy of Brittany Castillejo