What's the temp. tonight? Oh, about two degrees. Good thing that I wore my thermals under my uniform. The apartment complex was unlit, but the suspects car was parked in the numbered spot for the complex. Do you think he is still here, I asked my partner? Ya, I know he is here. The apartment complex is leased to his girlfriend, but he is inside. How many warrants does he have? Three. He always runs; always, my partner stated.
I walked around the back of the complex, alone, in complete darkness, with my thoughts and the mist from my breath. Time was 11:00 p.m., and I should be off right now, instead of working this overtime. I could hear my partner knock, announce, "Police!" and begin a half hour conversation with the suspects girlfriend, as I stood freezing, watching the back door, in case the suspect decided to run. He has run every time we looked for him, but maybe the extreme cold kept him inside.
Finally, reluctantly the girlfriend let us inside, after denying for a half hour that he was in the house. As we searched her home, I could feel the sense of intrusion which we brought into her life. She was staring coldly at us, wishing we would drop dead.
As I walked into her bedroom, there was an eery sense that I was not alone. The other officer was checking another room. I slowly unlatched the button on my holster and drew my handgun, with a flashlight in my left hand a gun in my right hand. I walked over to the closet and I could hear the slightest sound of breathing behind the doors to the closet. I yelled, "Don't move!!" I opened the closet door and found the suspect crouching in sheer fear for his life. He was actually shaking, like a scared child, who was separated from his parents.
I did not let down my guard until I ordered him out of the closet and handcuffed him, but I truly and deeply felt sorrow for him, because his life was racked with fear, anxiety, and pain. This same person six months earlier during the summer had engaged me in a car chase, endangered my life, as well as countless others, to avoid arrest. Yet, all that faded into the past for me at this moment, because when I saw him shaking, every ounce of my being, identified with his fear.
As soon as he was caught, he immediately started to cry, because it was a time of release for him. I sometimes had to not look at him to avoid crying myself and all he could do was apologize to us, as if he was sorry for our inconvenience. He no longer had to hide, he no longer had to lie, he no longer had to fear. Although he was arrested, he was met with compassion and mercy, for I do not believe that God sees us as differently from one another as we see our situations.
As I study the life of Jesus, I realize that Jesus almost never brings Israel's past into the picture, except to show that the kingdom of God has dawned. Jesus is incorporating the past, to show that mercy is now extended to all, that the poor have entered into the "good news" of the kingdom, and that forgiveness is here. Jesus has an incredible way of integrating Israel's entire narrative into the culmination of his own life, I absolutely love this about God. God bless.
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