Vengeance or Justice
Long read... but worth it!
Yesterday, someone stole some important items right off our front porch. (See original social media posts below) I felt angry, violated, helpless, and somewhat responsible for not retrieving said items when the doorbell was first rung since I was home.
I cried off & on for nearly 2 hours. Police officers came into my home to take a report. I was so worried about the expense of the items as well as the need for some of it.
After they left, In this day & age I did what any social media fan would do. I posted it. The video, still pics and a plea for help from my community. It went “viral” of sorts. In the end over all platforms, the video was viewed 24K times & shared about 500 times.
Half a dozen people reached out to me via private message and all said the same person was responsible. Information I gladly shared with the Police officer who had taken my report.
Hours went by and I was absolutely STUNNED at the amount of love and support we got from our community. I was shocked that it was shared sooo many times. I held on to very little hope of it ever being found/returned.
And here’s the thing, hundreds of comments... all saying they hoped for this persons arrest. They wanted him to face charges and get locked up and throw away the key.
Many assuming (rightly) that he has a history of this behavior and assuming that he was a drug user or dealer, or gang banger or has committed worse crimes. That he is dangerous etc.
Many calling him names, lots of names. Lots of offense and anger and outrage at his audacity and brazenness. Not a single person said one kind or encouraging or positive word about this “scum” who stole the items. And I did not disagree!! I was hurt and angry and afraid. I was being startled by any little noise outside.
Eventually the thief himself contacted me. He wanted to return the items. He “swore” it was just a one time stupid mistake. I don’t believe the sincerity of his apologies. I was told that his best friend reached out to him to insist he return it, after seeing my post on numerous pages. I think he was just afraid of getting caught.... He was caught!
He told me he left the items undamaged behind a grocery store in our neighborhood. This was at 11:30PM. He SAID he had left the area, as he was afraid I might call cops.
My husband did not want me to go retrieve it. He didn’t believe the kid and he felt it *could* be a scam or trap or something. He wanted me to be escorted. So we called the Police again, who were so gracious to go with us and search behind the grocery store at Midnight!
Everything was exactly where this kid said it was. Unopened and Undamaged.
The cops gave us a choice. We could take possession of our stuff immediately and drop charges. Or we could pursue charges and have our items confiscated for evidence, returned at a much future date. We opted for immediate possession and to drop the charges.
I had a chance to speak with the kid after all this. I told him we weren’t pressing charges. He thanked me, and apologized again.
Here is where I had another choice.
Justice says: He “deserves” to suffer consequences of his actions. Vengeance says He hurt me, so He should be hurt. Justice says: Hold him accountable and responsible for his choices. Vengeance says: He is a “bad” person who deserves punishment. Justice is Good and right and has a place. Vengeance is fueled by anger and hurt and serves no purpose. Which would I choose??
I thought about everything, everyone was saying about this kid. The people that reached out to me privately knew him personally and they tell a story of a “bad” kid who has been in and out of jail for all his teenage years, of how he had also stolen from them. How he does do drugs and sells it. Sells stolen goods to buy drugs. How often he has lied. How I should not let him get away with this, because he will just keep doing it. They tell me of their personal wounds and hurts from this same kid, who hurt our family. That I should not trust him. One person even said he was “evil”.
When the kid reached out to me, He said he had read all those comments. He didn’t even deny any of it!! And all I could think of is, “Is there anyone in this kids life that sees him? Sees him as a person past the behavior? That tells him what/when he is doing RIGHT? or Good?”
My heart swelled with compassion. My heart saw him through Christs Eyes. Through my “Trauma informed Counselor” eyes.
I took the opportunity when I spoke with him to say:
Listen, you did the RIGHT thing returning it. I also appreciate that you told the truth about where it was. You did a good thing. You may have a lot of people always telling you all the things you do wrong/bad. But I’m not like that. I forgive you. My daughter is super happy right now.
Please just know that I’m pointing out the right/good things you did. Just do yourself a favor and from now on make more right choices. And start counting them.
He said he would try and turn his life around. I didn’t believe it. But I am praying it’s true. I am praying that one simple act of kindness will have a long lasting impact.
Listen, Living out the Christian life in real life, when the rubber meets the road is difficult.
I have had to “forgive” more than my fair share of hurts, more times than I care to acknowledge.
But it’s a necessary choice to grow in my relationship with Jesus and my relationship to those around me and to this world.
JUSTICE in Gods “Upside Down” Kingdom is not always “Fair” & doesn’t always mean that someone suffers for their wrongs.
My response to him was my way of saying “... neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
HONESTLY, I have sinned against and wounded God more times than I can count. I also “deserve” Justice & Punishment. But thankfully... The God I serve has already paid that price. And He also sees me and calls me Good! He calls me beloved, He delights in me, He sings over me, He sees me past my behavior. In spite of how often I fail him.
Forgiveness =Freedom.
If you are holding on to hurts/wounds/anger over wrongs done to you or your family, if you know Jesus. I pray you are able to forgive and see the good. There is so much more JOY in a life filled with forgiveness and redemption.
Thanks for reading.
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**UPDATE** 12:30AM 1/28
WE GOT OUR STUFF BACK COMPLETELY UNHARMED!!!! 😭😭😭
Very long story... but it was
SERIOUSLY THANKS TO YOU ALL!!
Please don’t feel the need to share anymore. 😛
Cannot Thank you enough.
#SocialMedia #PositiveNetworking #GodIsGood
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UPDATE** 10:32PM 1/27
First I want to say THANK you to ALL of you who shared and viewed this video. It has been viewed all total, between “Ring”, FB, “Neighbor” over 2,500 times!!! And Shared so far 410 times.
As a result...
4 SEPARATE individuals gave me the SAME NAME and Photos and FB profile of the person they think did it.
I am Emailing the detectives Screenshots of those conversations (per their request will not include the names of who told me)
PLEASE IF YOU KNOW THIS PERSON in the video
I could use some more photos from his FB page to compare and/or a location or address. Right now I have a name, a profile pic. And a posssible city.
This is the POWER OF POSITIVE SOCIAL NETWORKING! Please keep sharing.
Thank you so much!!
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Updated***
This post is now public on my fb page and is “shareable” please share.
Also, YES a police report has been made. Thank you.
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Original Post**
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you know this person.
They stole my husbands Life saving Medicine!! AND my daughter’s Birthday present.
I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble, we just need them returned!!
This is on Old Post Road in Mill Race Creek He appears to be going towards Judith Circle.
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