I recently had the privilege of riding along with a police officer friend of mine, whom I will call Officer H. I have been ministering to Officer H over the past three years, and we have had numerous short conversations, each lasting between 10 and 15 minutes. On many occasions, God has opened the doors for me to pray with Officer H.

Officer H will randomly stop by my house or text me to ask if I am around so that he can stop by. Most of these times, he asks for prayers for things going on in his life or for wisdom for his job. During one of these visits, I asked him if it would be possible for me to ride along with him. He was surprised to hear that I wanted to ride in the squad car so we could have more time to hang out.

I had to fill out and submit paperwork before I could be approved to ride with him. After several weeks, I was approved, and we set a date for me to join him for his shift.

The shift started like any typical day. As we were getting ready to roll out, he received a call that he was needed for a stakeout. Okay, here we go, I thought. We sat at an undisclosed location for an hour and a half before he received the call that he was cleared to leave and return to his regular duties.
As we drove away, I could not help but wonder if the other officers had caught the person for whom they were searching. We had been on the road for about ten minutes when he received another call asking if we could come back. Apparently during the process, the officers learned of a warrant for the arrest of another individual at the location.

We turned around and went back to pick up the individual. After Officer H asked the arrestee various questions for the report, he followed up by asking why the perpetrator had committed the offense. I watched my friend transform from Officer H to a brother who cared for the person we had just picked up. He asked questions and told the arrestee that what was done was wrong, but he also encouraged the individual to do better and be a better person.

After dropping the arrestee off at the local jail, we headed out again. Over the next few hours, Officer H shared more about life, work and what God has been doing in his life over the last several years. He shared how conversations that he and I had in the past had impacted his life. I could see the change that God was doing in his life by how he was relating to those he had to pick up or pull over.

The last person he stopped was a young man who had been pulled over several times in a short period. As he spoke with the young man, he asked, “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” the young man replied.

“I mean, what’s going on that is causing you to keep getting in trouble?”

“I guess I’m just young and have made some bad decisions,” he answered.

Officer H said, “You are better than this. You can do better.” I want to see you do better.”

After our shift ended, I returned home. As I lay in bed that night, I could not help but think about how my friend had responded to all those with whom he had interacted. Yes, they had all done things for which they deserved to be stopped or arrested, but my friend went above the call of duty and appealed to them as individuals to choose to do better.

There are times in life when God must pull us over, maybe even arrest us if you will. God’s desire, though, is not to merely stop us from what we are doing, but to encourage us to be better people. In the case of my friend, as he has allowed God to change his heart, his desire has become to encourage others to make better choices and be better people.

At the end of the day, can we look back and thank God that we were able to encourage others and point them to Jesus? If not, I encourage you to ask God to transform you into a blessing to those whom you meet.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support. Every day is different, and I never know to whom God is leading me to minister. Your prayers make a world of difference, not just in my life, but in the lives of those whom God leads me to.

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