To Catch A Criminal

On the morning of May 29th, 2008 at 9:33am, I hopped into my car to drive to St. Louis for a photo shoot until I realized someone, the night before, decided to help keep me cool & well oxygenated for the summer by giving me another open window. Apparently, in his opinion, the four windows I can roll down with the power buttons will not sufficiently work well enough.

So as you could imagine, my broken window somehow made my bottom lip swell up!

Something had to be done!!! And flexing for the camera would not be enough this time!!!

Meanwhile, I had to go to the police station to get elimination prints done so they could determine that the fingerprints by the window were not my own. No frisking was involved! I also had my window replaced just in case the extra wind might mess up my hair even though I fix it to look wind-blown & messy. Beauty is pain!

I thought in order to catch a criminal of this caliber, I would need to set up an old school kind of trap! The old “Box & Stick (with no rope because I couldn’t find any) Trap” was the answer! And what better bait to use than expired carrots?

After what seemed like hours & hours & hours of waiting & waiting (or approx. 3 minutes), we caught the sneaky little culprit! Could this possibly be the one who broke my window in to a million pieces… along with my fragile little heart?

Unfortunately, I did not catch the criminal. Somehow, I accidentally caught what appears to be some kind of neighborhood squirrel on crack with an obsession for carrots!

I did learn a lesson, though. In the matter of moments, someone randomly targeted me & decided to hurt me. In seconds, I lost $231.00 for something I had no part in! A phrase that I’ve learned, always plays over & over in my head, “Hurting people hurt people!” This person deliberately chose to partake in a “Random Act of Cruelty.” I had no control over that situation.

However, what I do have control over is how I respond. The situation doesn’t control me & I do get to choose how I feel about the person & the event. So what do I choose? I choose love. I may never know who did this, but I do know that he must hurt on the inside & my job is to love him! Someone who knows God’s grace & love would never deliberately hurt someone.

So as Christians, when something bad happens to us, when we fall victims to a random act of cruelty, we should respond with love. This week, I will give a “Random Act of Kindness” at some point in response to what has happened to me! I think the more Christians will choose to respond in this matter, the less we will see acts of cruelty! Love covers a multitude of sin!

So I might not have the best information on how To Catch A Criminal, but if you ever need help with a cracked-out squirrel, I’m your man!

I love you guys!

~Kyle Weber