RELIEVED
OF STOLEN MONEY

Topics: Change; Confession; Conscience; Consequences; Emptiness; Forgiveness; Guilt; Honesty; Integrity; Pardon; Reconciliation; Shame

References: Psalm 32:5; Proverbs 28:13; Ezekiel 18:31; Acts 3:19; Romans 6:16; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Hebrews 10:22; 1 John 1:9

After John Jefferson robbed a Krispy Kreme Doughnut store in Kingsport, Tennessee, in 1999, he bought dope. But he couldn’t enjoy it because he was plagued with guilt. Months later, even after moving to Kansas, the guilt remained. So Jefferson decided to confess.

Jefferson called Detective David Cole of the Kingsport Police Department and identified himself as the robber. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” Jefferson said in an interview. “I was sick and tired of the way I was living. I didn’t want to die in a crack house, and I didn’t want to smoke crack anymore.”

After pleading guilty, Jefferson served a six-year sentence. Upon his release, he tried several times to return to the Krispy Kreme store and repay the money he had stolen, but he kept turning around before he could get there. Finally, Jefferson called David Cole again and asked him to accompany him to the store. Though he had stolen $300, Jefferson returned $400 to the robbery victim, who asked him to donate the money to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“I felt like a million bucks when I walked out of that place,” Jefferson said.

—“What Goes Around, Comes Around,” FoxNews.com (December 21, 2005)