A Case of Mistaken Idenitification

The headline in this morning's paper read, "Police had wrong guy." Curious, I read the article. Seems like the wrong guy, Clark Lilley, was arrested last month for robbing a Manor Township convenience store. Turns out, he never did it! Yet for the past several weeks, he has languished in Lancaster County prison, day after day proclaiming his innocence. Authorities turned a deaf ear to his protests (after all, most inmates do the same!) until, a man now identified as the true culprit was arrested after robbing another convenience store. And since Lilley was incarcerated at the time, it was clear he was innocent as he claimed! So last night, Lilley slept in his own bed for the first time in FIVE weeks! Now how did it come about that Lilley was arrested in the first place? Seems that a worker at the convenience store picked him out of a photo line up and identified him as the robber. Because of that mistaken identification, Lilley's life was turned upside down! At the time of his arrest, he was a student at Lancaster Bible College. Due to his arrest, he lost his on campus job and now a whole semester of work.

As unfortunate as this story is, we can understand how these things happen. People make mistakes. Most of the time, these mistakes are on the minor side (like making a wrong turn while driving, or overcooking the roast). But in Lilley's case - the woman's mistake led to a major disruption in his life.

Friends, there will come a day that we stand before Almighty God. Be assured that unlike the woman who was the truly guilty one in this story in making her false identification of Lilly as the robber, God will never be guilty of this. He knows all things perfectly and exhaustively. So when we stand before Him to give an account of our lives (which we will, see 2 Corinthians 5:10 and Revelation 20:11-15) - you can count on the fact that God will make totally accurate judgments about us and our lives. That's a sobering thought! Keep that in mind as you live out today! It just may make a difference in the choices you make! God is watching! And you and I will one day give an account for our lives!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj