| David Jay Jordan's About the Author I caught a Thief I was in university, (1970) and three of us were roommates in an apartment. I heard noise outside my bedroom late at night and because it woke me up, I figured I 'd find my next door roommate sleep walking again. Half awake and clearing my eyes I saw two guys, in our living room. They dropped our stereo and a guitar and bolted for the balcony. And me without thinking, chased after them. They went onto the balcony and over the railing to the grass below about eight feet down. Me, being the so-called great athlete at the time was in hot pursuit in my underwear. It was raining yet within twenty feet, I caught the slowest of the two in a neck lock, making him gasp for air. I released him a little, and he started telling me this sob story of it being his first time. He was literally shaking and almost crying. The other guy who got to the get-away car tried to start it up and it just turned over slowly and failed to start. I'm thinking these guys are rookies, maybe they are telling the truth. Maybe they hadn’t ever stole anything before. They are really harmless and maybe just poor and down on their luck.. Besides the police station is right across the street, no one is that stupid to rob people across the street from the police station, and look at them, they are dumb and scarred. And I am getting cold !! And the neighbors are starting to look out the windows because of this commotion. And them seeing me in my underwear out here, surely our landlord is going to get calls again about our wild parties etc. etc. Oh what the heaven, let him go, says I to himself, So I asked for some promises that they would never steal again and of course they swore up and down they wouldn’t. And I let them go. ….Oh the righteousness swelled in my heart, as I thought I had both defended our homeland of an apartment and saved our gear and then righteously let go the poor and the scared. I hoped back up on the balcony, and went inside and had a sleep. The next morning, I told my roommates of my heroics, they laughed like stink, and said "Sure you caught some thieves, sure you did…chuckle chuckle" Once again trying to defend myself and my supposed honor, I got upset and showed them the tracks in the grass outside. And then we saw this huge switch blade knife below the balcony. One of the not-so-nice thieves had dropped it when they fled. Our jaws dropped and my roommates then believed me !! And it’s then I realized what danger I had put myself in because of my pride. For without thinking, I instinctively tried to protect our material possessions, which can always be replaced, whereas my life couldn’t be. Then feeling guilty that I let them go, I went across the street and reported the incident. And it’s there that I found out the police were looking for the a couple of drug addicts that were breaking into apartments in the area. It didn’t take long for me to give them a description of the two guys and the car and within 24 hours they brought them into a line-up and I easily picked them out from the night before. Yes, they needed medical help, but they were definitely dangerous because of their condition. And it’s because they were drug addicts and that they were so desperate and shaking so much. They needed a fix badly, and probably would have done whatever, to get the goods to get their fix. So Thank God, the Lord had them drop the knife, because surely one of them would have been tempted to use it and I could have been stupid enough to resist. So all I can say in WARNING to others, is pray for the Grace to do the right thing at the right moment, but the right thing is NOT to defend your Possessions. Let them go, give the thieves what they want. Your life or others lives aren't worth the dollars involved. Keep your wits about you in a crisis, don't over-react, keep your cool and keep your life. In Jesus Love and Protection David Jay Jordan |