It must have been the work of the most cunning cat burglar ever to ply his craft on the unsuspecting city of Orlando, FL.
The owner of an Army and Navy Surplus store marveled at the thief’s ability to dodge all the activated alarm systems. He did this by cutting through the roof, climbing down a rope and exiting the same way. It was like something out of Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief.
Store owner, Neal Crasnow, exclaimed, “He must be Spider Man”. But this Spider Man made off with 75 handguns, among other loot worth tens of thousands. “They’ll never catch that thief”, Crasnow must have thought to himself. “He’s far too clever”.
Yet that same morning police informed Mr. Crasnow that they had a suspect in custody. His name was Gary Jahmel Shaquan Elliott, a 19-year-old parolee whom police had caught riding down a residential street, laden with two over-sized duffle bags full of handguns, driving an old fashioned tricycle – the kind you pedal!
“A tricycle? No, that can’t be the guy. This thief’s work was far too sophisticated.”
Yet Elliott was the thief. How a thief could be so cunning in his crimes, yet so stupid in his exit strategy, baffled police beyond measure.
Yet our world is full of successful people who have planned everything so well – their education, their career goals, their personal and family goals – yet have done absolutely nothing for their own exit out of this life.[i]
That exit is coming. Life’s a dangerous place – No one gets out alive. Have you planned for your “escape”?
Our Lord declared, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) and “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
The Scripture tells us that we must all appear before God’s judgment seat to be recompensed for what we’ve done in this life, whether good or bad (Romans 14:10-11; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10).
PRAYER:
Dear Father in heaven, to You, O God, I confess my sins and ask Your forgiveness. To you I open the door of my heart and ask you to come in, take the helm of my life, save me, make me fit for heaven. Amen.
Information from “OPD: Rooftop burglar stole more than 70 guns and fled on 3-wheel bicycle,” Orlando Sentinel, July 1, 2015
