THE MARIJUANA USER

Brian Blumenberg

Chattanooga, TN, Police Department

One evening, while I was working on the second shift, my wife was riding with me, and I was called to direct traffic at a house fire. During the blaze, several vehicles had to be redirected so they would not run over the fire hoses.

During my watch, a man drove his car right up to a fire hose. When I stopped him, and he rolled down the window, I could smell marijuana. In answer to my question as to whether he had any marijuana in the vehicle, he said he had smoked some earlier. I had him get out of the vehicle and got permission to search it, finding marijuana. A check of his identification revealed that his driver’s license had been revoked for driving under the influence. At that point, I knew I was going to have to seize his vehicle and take him to jail.

I handcuffed and placed him in the back of my cruiser, then finished all the paperwork relating to his vehicle. As I got into the car for the trip to jail, he said he was going through a rough time in his life and asked if I would pray with him. I was grateful he recognized his need for prayer but also dismayed at the mistakes he had made that had brought him to this point. My wife and I prayed for him, then I took him to jail and booked him. Of course, when the case went to court, he was found guilty.

Later that year I had to make a call at the man’s address. His wife answered the door, and I asked how her husband was doing. She told me that my arresting him and praying for him was a turning point, that he had turned his life around and was doing much better.

Many times, people feel that the worst thing that could happen to them is to be arrested and spend time in jail. Yet I’ve heard other officers say that God sometimes uses “wake-up calls” like that to put His wayward children on the right path. Romans 13 is right: we are God’s ordained ministering servants!