Angela Marie Hill reacted with shock, disbelief and tears, covering her head with her prison issue jumpsuit as she was charged in January 2012. She cried and cried. Putting her head on her knees, she asked the judge, “Why am I being charged with attempted murder?” Two months later on her twenty-sixth birthday she donned a blue jumpsuit and had shackles placed carefully over each of her white socks for another trip to the courtroom. What went wrong?
Angela’s troubles started at a party. Or maybe not. They actually started a whole long time before that. You and I share in the root problem. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts” (Proverbs 21:22Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts. (Proverbs 21:2)). Our logic and justification for our own actions sound pretty good to us, but there’s someone who sees past all the petty surface stuff and deep down to the motivation at the bottom of our hearts. Basically we want to be in the driver’s seat of our lives. That’s where Angela and Logan McFarland wanted to be.
In eastern Utah, Logan stole a car in Mount Pleasant and then was apparently joined by Angela at a party. They ditched the car in Santaquin, Utah, and stole a Saturn sedan. Driving to the Utah border with Nevada, they decided it was time for yet another set of wheels. This time they picked on the wrong person. Rattanaphorn Keomanivong was heading out after work to get in her car when Angela approached her with a drawn gun. Rattanaphorn offered to give up her purse and car if she could go free and was answered with the butt of Angela’s gun just above her eye and forced into the car while Logan snatched the purse and hopped back into the other stolen car.
With Angela at the wheel of her car and driving away, Rattanaphorn made a dive for the gun. Rattanaphorn decided, “If I was going to die, I was going to die fighting.” The gun fell to the seat and they struggled for it. Angela got it back, but Rattanaphorn had a hand on it. The car stopped and they fell out the open door struggling. Rattanaphorn leapt back into her car and put it in gear and took off with Logan in pursuit. “As I stepped on the gas pedal, I heard a really loud pound in my head. It was so loud. I didn’t feel anything because I was so scared.” Rattanaphorn arrived at a police station with a bullet in the back of her skull.
Angela and Logan took off into Nevada and found a Volkswagen Jetta in a motel parking lot warming up in the cold January air. You know what happened next. With the two on board, the Jetta raced down Interstate 80 at speeds up to 118 mph. But now the state troopers were on their trail. Trooper Greg Monroe had a good view of Angela Hill in the front passenger seat — through the scope of his assault rifle. As he says, “When you’re getting ready to pull the trigger on someone, you never forget those things.”
God doesn’t forget what we’ve done either. Everyone needs to face the moment when the Lord Jesus “will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts” (1 Corinthians 4:55Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)). No hidden motives, no missing details, no searching for further leads; everything will be out in the open.
But somehow, some way Angela and Logan got away — ditching the troopers. Their vehicle was dumped in the desert and they began to walk across the wilderness south of Oasis, Nevada. Three car thefts, one carjacking, one mugging, one attempted murder and now they had given the police the slip. And that’s not all. More crime would turn up later. Everyone in every direction had failed to bring them down. Sometimes our secret little habits, angry thoughts, and “little vices” seem to slip past our friends, our coworkers or our spouse.
But Logan and Angela failed to look up. Above them, four days into their adventure, circled the little plane of rancher Demar Dahl. He was out surveying his cattle. He knew there might be suspects in the area and kept his eagle eyes open. Spotting them, down he came, right over their heads, but he had no cell phone coverage — no way of letting police know. He circled again and again and then took off for a better coverage area. We are being observed every moment too, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)).
As state troopers converged on the sage brush south of Oasis, Angela and Logan had had enough. No bullets, no blood, just “We give up.” But questions remain. Lots of them. Back in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, a couple who owned the stolen car was found dead. As of this writing, Angela may be close to a plea bargain with authorities over the botched carjacking. But the deal will have to be approved by her victim — Rattanaphorn Keomanivong. Back in Mt. Pleasant, authorities are awaiting their turn. Logan’s Nevada trial is currently scheduled for September 2013; then he will go back to Utah for another round.
The one we have wronged, God, has already approved a “plea deal” for us. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The innocent Christ suffered so that guilty individuals like you and me could be justly forgiven for our sins. He actively went out looking to bring us back, not for justice, but for mercy. Christ died on the cross of Calvary to bring back anyone who would “give up” and admit their guilt. Then they would discover that “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)).
However, anyone who refuses God’s present offer of mercy will be judged in the highest court of all. The most important court session ever to be held is described here: “I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened” (Revelation 20:11-1211And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:11‑12)). There will be no argument, no “why am I being charged?” No mercy and no forgiveness then; just pure justice based on indisputable fact. Will you receive God’s mercy today or wait for your day in court? Like many others, I’ve surrendered. Not to justice but to the grace of God. Will you?