A Robers Heart

"I have to take you in. You know that, right?" queried Officer Brit.

"Well, I know that, but I am not exactly happy with it. I have been running for six years. Until you came along, I would have gotten away with that bank heist." Responded Mark.

"I'm sorry, but you should have known better in the first place. Justice always makes right in the end, no matter how far after the crime." Officer Brit said with some sorry at the circumstances. She always felt bad that she couldn't have helped the confused people before they committed a crime and not afterward. Then she added, "How did you get into this sort of thing in the first place anyway?"

"Well..." Mark trailed off with a pained expression on his face.

How did I get mixed up in this? I was such a "good" person before. I didn't have a care in the world, and as a child, I was so happy. In Idaho, I used to live on that beautiful farm with my family. We all loved each other so much. Even when people came for the farm, nothing could separate us; we were strong together. We could conquer the world together. Together, we fought the government to save our farm and work until we made enough to pay the bills and go out for dinner.

I remember that night at the restaurant as if it was yesterday. We were dining like kings and pulled out all the stops; we were all allowed to eat whatever we wanted. All of us kids got the most expensive thing on the menu, each with a scrumptious dessert tied to it. Hot Chocolate to boot. Mom and Dad had lobster, which looked kinda gross to us kids, but they appeared to enjoy it. They even had wine. When we arrived home that night, I knew that when I grew up, I would have to work in the bank and make it better. That way, they could never foreclose on anyone ever again.

When I grew up, I did become a member of the bank's staff. I worked hard to learn everything and everyone. How could I help them and make their experience at the back one that was pleasant and all of their problems solved? That was my daily question, but one day, that question changed. I wanted to know why nobody had helped my family like this when we were in trouble? Why had they so easily given up and simply foreclosed on us instead of giving us every chance possible? Surely, there had to have been one helpful soul, one person who would have put every effort into helping them get out of debt and show them how to make some honest money? They could have helped, he was sure of it, but they didn't. So he had decided to get back at them and steal some of their money. The money that they could have used to help him and his family all those years ago. They could have gone out to eat every Sunday, like everyone else, if only the bank had helped them and not held back. He had been so sure that the bank had done that on purpose that he had eventually acted on that. He had stolen. He still didn't regret that act; it had somehow, in part, repaid that debt in his mind and enabled him to put his parents into an assisted living home and go on a world cruise with food handed to you at every turn.

"I did it to get back at the bank and the government for not helping my family when we needed them. They helped everyone else but not use, and that is not fair!" Mark finally gave his answer, but it didn't not please Officer Brit.

"You know what I think?" Asked Officer Brit.

"No, I don't. I don't read minds you, know," snidly replied Mark. His attitude had not improved at all since she had caught him.

"Well, I think that you are bitter because of what happened to you growing up when you could be grateful. Greatful that you had parents growing up, as I heard, and that you did make it so high in the business world when you started so low." There was a brief pause as she caught her breath. "I also think that you need to change your perspective. How do you know that the bank and the government didn't do all that they could for you? After all, you were just a kid, there could have been cerounding circumstances that you didn't know about. Circumstances in that particular bank that you were unaware of or in your family that your parents simply didn't tell you about. What if the bank had rules set because of someone else who broke the system or because of their branch or something. You, of all people, should know about there being different rules in each bank that may hinder the people from doing all that they want to do." She paused to study him and see if she was getting anywhere or just wasting her breath.

He was starting to look a little guilty, so Officer Brit continued, "Futher more, you could have though about the people at your bank. All those people that you fought so hard to help. You cheated them out of their life savings and completely went against everything that you lived for. How could you do such a thing and not feel one bit bad? You not only cheated those people, but the people that you worked with, those people put their whole life into that bank only to have it stolen by you." She paused again to see if he would say anything or let her keep going. She was on a roll and knew that she wouldn't have the courage to keep going if this went much longer. This arrest was taking far too long, to begin with anyway.

Mark finally spoke quietly, "Fine; I might feel bad for the people who trusted us and for my coworkers if it was for just one thing."

"And what is that?" Brit asked with true curiosity.

"Why couldn't they have been born a few years earlier? Why couldn't they have been in time to help me?" Mark said stubbornly, holding onto his bitterness and unforgiveness.

Officer Brit thought for a few seconds before responding; she wanted to be sure to speak carefully. "Maybe your focus is still on yourself. Do you know that I knew someone else who went through a similar experience? People treated Him unfairly, all of the leaders in His day wanted to prove Him wrong, they would lie about Him and say that He had done things awful, when in reality they were just being judgmental and self righteous. The leaders followed Him around, and they tried to get Him to "mix up" so that they could corner Him and make the people think badly of Him. One night, all of His friends abandoned Him, and one of them even betrayed Him to the leaders. On that night, the leaders brought false charges about Him and had Him convicted. The leaders had Him beaten, stripped, and hung on a cross to die. Do you want to know what happened to Him?"

"Yes. Yes, I do want to know. What happened to him?" Mark asked without a moment's hesitation.

"Well, that was Jesus Christ, the Messiah. He died that day for our sins so that we might spend eternity with God in heaven. You see, as sinners, we can't be in the presence of God. But with Christ's death, He washed away our sins so that we might be made clean. We just need to accept Him as the Lord of our life, and then we can be in the presence of God." Brit paused to observe Mark once more. Then she continued with a soft tender tone, "On the third day after Jesus died, something miraculous happened, he rose from the dead. This defeated all death. When we die, as believers, we have the assuarace that we will rise to, we will be alive forever in the presence of God, working for Him and worshiping Him, Heaven will be the beautifullest place that there will ever be. The opposite of heaven is hell, and that is where all unbelievers go because of their sin against God. Do you want to go to heaven for eternity and have a personal relationship with Jesus, the one and Only King of the Universe? The One who created you and me?"

"Yes, I would. Will you show me how before you take me in?" Mark asked soberly yet with excitement.

"You pray and ask forgiveness of your sins and Jesus into your heart to dwell there as your personal savior. The rest will come in time as you are guided by other believers in the way that you should go." Brit concluded with a smile.