Hello ,
George's Wright's life of crime started in 1962. On that fateful night, George and a buddy walked into Walter Patterson's gas station and demanded money. When he objected they beat the older man, until Walter finally gave up all the cash he had: seventy dollars in crumpled bills. George's buddy shot Walter at point-blank range. After the robbery and shooting, George ate two cheeseburgers and played shuffleboard.
George Wright was arrested and eventually sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison. That was too long for this angry young man, so he connected with a few other cons and broke out, hotwiring the warden's car as the means of escape. He stayed under the radar until July 31, 1972, when he hijacked a plane heading from Detroit to Miami, eventually escaping to Algeria.
From there, he began a worldwide fugitive odyssey that took him to Germany, France, Guinea-Bissau, and finally Portugal. Along the way, George changed his name to Jorge, and somewhere in the years between then and now, miraculously, Jorge became a different man. "I've asked God to forgive me," he says now of his criminal past, "and I think God has forgiven me. But the law-the law says other things." Jorge married, had children, joined
a church, and got baptized.
He turned from crime, working with his hands to provide for his family. He cleaned graffiti in Lisbon and helped to renovate an outreach center for HIV-positive children. He served dinners for homeless people. He planted public flower gardens. He raised two healthy, happy kids. He grew into a senior citizen, and in the forty years of his hiding, he didn't do anything to add to his crimes-not even a parking violation.
On September 26, 2011, the law finally caught up with George Wright in the form of six Portuguese policemen acting on an Interpol warrant issued by the United States. They found George Wright, but they arrested José Luis Jorge dos Santos. Portugal eventually denied the United States' attempt to have Jorge extradited, but during the hearings the central issue was not whether they'd arrested the right man but whether they'd arrested the
same man. The question they were asking was this: Can a person actually change?
As I read this story, I pondered what it means to be a changed person, and what God has promised to each person that turns to Him. The evidence in scripture is overwhelming:
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26
Now, I'm not suggesting that George Wright doesn't have a debt to pay to society for his crimes, (those decisions and judgments weren't left up to me,) nor do I suppose that I understand whether or not George Wright actually has a relationship with his Heavenly Father.
What I do believe though, is that God can be taken at his word in terms of the change that He promises to those who give their lives over into His care and keeping. He has promised deep and abiding change in my life, and I should take Him at his word!
Have a great day and God bless!
Pastor Mike / The Open Word
