Relentless Pursuit

The best part of my job is to catch the bad guy. Responding to the scene of a crime, gathering evidence, establishing probable cause and making the arrest is what being a cop is all about. One case in particular took me almost two years to make an arrest and the investigation began months before the crime actually happened. 

I was working patrol and got called to investigate a man loitering in a Santa Barbara neighborhood near the Arlington Theater. I responded and contacted a guy who, it turned out, was just released from prison. I asked if he had any tattoos and he showed me the name of a prison gang in large, block letters on his lower back. He did not commit a crime that day, but I did write down his information before I sent him on his way.

Almost a year later, around Christmas time, I was walking foot patrol on State Street near the Macys Department Store and up walks the guy. He was not hard to miss since he was wearing a bright orange t-shirt. He was pushing a stroller with a baby and was in the company of a woman. I recognized him at once and struck up a conversation. He told me that he was “doing good.” We talked for a few minutes; I told him to have a good Christmas and continued walking up the street.

Not five minutes after this "chance" meeting, a dispatcher announced over the radio that there was a shoplifting in progress at Macys. The suspect description was a white male adult, 30 years old, wearing an orange t-shirt and pushing a stroller. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!! I was three blocks away by this time, did an about face and moved quickly back toward the store, scanning the crowd as I went. The guy got away. Macys had a closed circuit camera system and I watched the guy stealing stuff left and right and hide it in the stroller. The hunt was on except for one problem. I could not remember the guys name or where I first contacted him months before.

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. The name of the prison gang tattooed on his back stayed just beyond my memory. I racked my brain trying to remember where I first met the guy. It was six months until one afternoon, without thinking about it, I remembered…the Arlington Theater!!! I raced back to the station and did a quick search of the police department records database. BINGO! Days later I had an arrest warrant signed by a judge and two months after that I got a call from a police officer in a nearby city telling me the suspect was in custody. I caught the bad guy!

Relentless pursuit does not require a red light, a siren or a badge. It requires a focus of purpose. There is an unyielding drive to achieve a goal.  God relentlessly pursues us to bring us back to Him. When we resist, He pursues us even more. When I think about relentless pursuit, I think about Jonah. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to call a city of 120,000 people to repentance. These people turned away from God and Jonah was going to be the messenger to bring them back to faith. Jonah resisted and tried to run away.

God put Jonah in time out in the belly of a fish. It took three days, but Jonah came around and cried out to the Lord, “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry…The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head…But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’” (Jonah, Chapter 2) God delivered Jonah to the shores of Nineveh on the first submarine ride. He preached repentance and the people of Nineveh returned to God.

Where is God relentlessly pursuing you? Will you yield to His call or will the Holy Spirit put out spike strips to get you to stop? God will do great things through you if you hear His voice and respond to His call. You could save a city!