On March 31st of 2010 I was arrested for Larceny by Employee (which is a felony charge in North Carolina). I stole 2 DVD’s from my employer a few nights before and was caught. I remember it like it happened yesterday. My HR manager asked for me to step into his office. At the time when he asked I knew what it was about and decided that I was going to man up and take what I was due. I was speaking with a customer on the phone and said to her, “Ma’am I am about to get fired so if you will call back in just a few minutes someone else will be able to help you.”
Right there in the middle of the isle fear struck my inner core. I was completely consumed by it and new there was no way out…or so I thought. I prayed, “Dear God, I know what I did was wrong. But if you will please get me through this I promise I will never steal again!” And at that moment peace fell over me. As I walked into the office, was questioned, handcuffed, and hauled to Asheville Buncombe County Jail my heart was completely at peace. It was like this was no big deal and it was an ordinary thing.
I was processed and let out on a promise to appear in court the following day. As I stepped out of the Jailhouse I felt God’s presence and peace leave me. I re-saw everything that had just happened and that same fear consumed the deepest parts of my soul. A pedestrian sitting on a nearby bench looked at me and smiled saying, “I know that look…couldn’t wait to get out huh? Hahaha!” It was then that it hit me the exact amount of trouble I was truly in.
I hesitated…I didn’t want to take the next step…I had to call my mother and tell her what I had done. At that exact moment if I had an option to stay in jail and serve my sentence in full or tell my mom, I would have chosen jail. Not because I was necessarily afraid of what she would do to me or say, or because I was acting cowardly…I didn’t want to disappoint her or my father. As I called her and she answered the phone I said, “Mom…I need you to come pick me up….” Seeing how the next day was April 1st (aka April Fools Day) it took me a good 15 minutes to convince her of where I was and what happened. She was angry, as she had a right to be and told me I needed to call my father, who was at work, to tell him what had happened.
This was even harder than telling my mom. I had no idea how he would react and honestly expected for him to hang up on me and kick me out of the house; to leave me for dead. As he answered the phone I was balling telling him what had happened. In the calmest most loving voice I have ever heard him speak in he said, “Kyle, it’s going to be okay. I’m coming to get you!”
HAHAA! I don’t believe I have ever felt so loved in my entire life! Isn’t it just like our Father to say something like that when we’ve royally screwed up in major ways?! ‘Don’t worry my child. It is not the end of the world. I’m coming to get you!’ How gracious and wonderful is our Father in Heaven! He never forsakes us or abandons us!
Thank you Tim Stinnett for being a Godly man, and a wonderful Father. Through your loving grace and actions, not just in this circumstance, but in many others I have been able to see the love and grace of our God! My hope is to have a gracious heart as you do and to be just as great of a dad. I love you!
