By Larry Young 

In early 1970’s San Diego, my wife Cheryl worked as a Deputy Sheriff and sworn officer, which was somewhat rare and not appreciated much by her male counterparts in those days. During a vehicle stop in a Hell’s Angel neighborhood, a swarm of the locals suddenly appeared, threatening Cheryl and her male partner. One tried to take Cheryl’s gun from her, but the holster was designed to prevent release when being pulled up. So they only succeeded in lifting Cheryl off the ground. Then her partner got into a fist fight on the ground with an un-armed kid who had a full leg cast, and Cheryl’s partner started yelling at her to shoot and kill the young man. Cheryl immediately sensed something was wrong with her partner’s demand; it was little more than a scuffle. She also knew if she pulled her weapon, there would have been a riot, and both officers would end up seriously injured or dead. So Cheryl called an 11-99 (officer needs help); then she held back the crowd until help arrived. The altercation was immediately investigated by the Department: Cheryl’s partner was both reprimanded and demoted for trying to set Cheryl up to use excessive force and even kill a young man.     

This all started when I bought a police scanner radio to listen to my Motorola public safety customers. Cheryl also started listening to my radio, especially the Sheriff’s dispatch. She got so excited about all the action going on around us, she would even grab my scanner and jump into her car and even occasionally beat the officers to a scene. Then she wanted to become a San Diego County deputy Sheriff. So off she went to Sheriff’s Academy, learning everything imaginable about law enforcement. Before I knew it, my sweet little wife was transformed into a uniformed sworn officer with a badge, a big heavy gun belt with handcuffs, pepper spray, a 357 Smith & Wesson, police issue Billy club, huge Kell flashlight, and a formidable helmet. Cheryl would return home from work late at night, and I would wake up to see her removing her gun belt and unloading her weapon… hey my honey was home! 

Both Cheryl and her male partner were trained and tested in all the necessary disciplines of law enforcement. Both graduated from the same Sheriff’s Academy in San Diego, and both had successful professional histories of dealing daily with dangerous and heartbreaking situations out in public. However, Cheryl’s partner also harbored a hidden hostility towards female officers. So when the situation presented itself, Cheryl’s partner tried to snare her into shooting and killing the un-armed young man, Cheryl used split-second wisdom to escape that snare and work to reduce crowd tensions until help arrived.   

What does Cheryl’s career in law enforcement have to do with our Christian walk? Actually, quite a bit. As Cheryl was excited about law enforcement and serving the community, we as true Christians should also be excited about serving our God and savior and spreading the gospel to the community. As Cheryl was thoroughly trained by law enforcement professionals how to interact in a caring respectful way with the public while also upholding the law, we too should be thoroughly trained how to be loving, caring, and respectful Christians who also uphold God’s law by example. As Cheryl exercised restraint and wisdom in the face of a life-or-death situation, we too must exercise wisdom and restraint in our own spiritual life-or-death situations. 

My only question to everyone in our church is (and I’m certainly included): Are we knowingly or even un-intentionally setting snares for others to fall into (setting up others for failure or worse), or are we actively and gently working to remove snares… until help arrives? It’s the devil’s role to set snares in front of each one of us; it’s Jesus’ role to remove every snare and to save every one of us. Jesus said: “You shall know them by their fruit”. (Matthew 7: 20) I have always translated that to mean: “You shall know them by the trail they leave behind themselves”… So what does your trail reveal about you to others? 

We truly need to help our brothers and sisters to avoid being caught in snares, especially knowing that the devil is actively setting custom-designed snares for every one of us. The devil can’t win if we work together and look out for each other, love each other, and lift each other up. The devil can’t lose if we work against each other, openly or even secretly hate each other, or look for ways to set snares… often just to get our own way. Cheryl made the right choice when her partner set a snare for her. “In everything you do or say, do it as unto the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”. (Colossians 3:17) Amen