A One-Eyed Felony

As a young rookie cop, my Field Training Officer (FTO) taught me a lot about life and police work. During one very slow graveyard shift, we were parked along a lonesome stretch of highway when a car drove by with one of its taillights out. My FTO said, “Let’s check out that one-eyed felony”. I never heard that phrase before. He was joking because at that point we had no idea anything more than a faulty taillight was in play.

When we approached the vehicle the businessman-looking person driving the car was polite and cooperative. We were getting ready to issue a verbal warning when I noticed the edge of a baggie under a coat on the rear seat. It looked like it was filled with pot. We asked the man to exit the car and confirmed it was marijuana. Thinking this was odd considering how the man looked, and within the allowance of law, we searched the rest of the vehicle. In a briefcase in the trunk was his contact information to a South American drug cartel. This was a treasure trove of data. He was one of the cartels front men in the states. We sent the names and address to the DEA and went to trial gaining convictions on a number of people in the states who were part of this drug enterprise.

It would have been too easy to stay in our warm patrol car and not stop a nice looking car driving by at 4:00 a.m. with only a taillight out, but duty called. We have a similar duty in spiritual matters. I have seen the greatest revelations come when I pursued the smallest of indicators. A word, a posture or a feeling once followed would many times lead me to the revelation of a hidden source.

Today, follow the leading of the Spirit no matter how small the indicator. You may find something similar to the discovery of a one-eyed felony on a slow night when nothing seemed to be happening. In the end, God will use your obedience to lead you to the discovery of the most unusual situations that a casual attitude would have missed.