I love the old cop shows from the 1960's. My two favorites were Adam 12 and Dragnet. Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Bill Gannon were tough as nails dealing with the criminals in the city of Los Angeles. Amazingly, they always caught the bad guy and solved the case in 30 minutes! This Monday, I and much our office, set aside our normal ministry activities and became Joe Friday. We had a crime that had to be solved and we were determined to see the case closed.It all started Sunday night when Melanie's iphone was stolen from church. After the musical, Mel sat her phone on top of some items and turned away for a few moments to return and find the phone gone. Myself and others on staff called the phone and texted with no answer. We figured the phone gone and were scrambling to make a plan for a replacement Monday morning. After continuing to send multiple texts early Monday morning like "U have a stolen phone...return it today...u r being tracked" and one sent from my staff, "U have stolen the pastor's phone", there was still nothing. That is until mid-morning when we got a text back from Mel's phone. For the next couple hours we texted and eventually ending up talking on the phone (Mel's phone) with a young man. He told us that he did not take the phone. He wanted to make things right, but needed some help. His baby needed diapers and formula, and he asked if he could get an eye exam because poor vision was keeping him from being able to hold down a job. We told him that we were willing to help him if he would return the phone.
He agreed to do that. Sean and Rob ( my student ministers) and I loaded in our van and drove to the house he told us. He came outside and handed the phone over. We gave him the diapers and formula, then loaded him and his 4-month old daughter in the van to go get an eye exam. This guy told us where he got the phone...a student that we have tried to minister to at church took it Sunday night and gave it to this guy who was staying at his house. Turns out the guy has some serious issues with his eyes that need treatment that is very expensive. We got him the info and some options for further help. We took him back to the house and headed back to the office.
The police are going to deal with the young man that stole the phone. We suspect that he has been involved in a few other thefts at the church over the past couple of months. Only God could have taken a hot iphone and turned it in to an opportunity to show grace and give help to a guy who was willing to give the phone back. It took a little longer than 30 minutes to get the case solved, but less than 24 hours after it was stolen, a happy Mel was chatting on her iphone. I knew that all those episodes of Dragnet would come in handy one day! Pretty incredible Monday...God's grace still amazes me!
