Chase and Nicole McKeown are both police officers in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They have been married for six months.
Last Saturday, they were on a date night at Raising Cane’s when a man entered the restaurant in a mask. “I think we kind of both saw him at the same time,” Nicole said during a news conference later.
They saw the man walk up to the counter, then the employee put their hands up. They realized what was happening, drew their weapons, and chased the suspect out of the restaurant. They pursued him a few blocks away from the restaurant and held him at gunpoint until the Louisville Metro Police arrived and arrested him.
A deputy with the LMPD’s robbery unit said, “It is my belief that if not for the heroic actions of these two officers the perpetrator’s actions inside the business would have escalated. They acted honorably and heroically.”
Nicole’s response was humbler: “When it comes to people’s lives in danger, any other officer would have done the same thing.”
Two lessons follow.
One: Police officers deserve our support, intercession, and gratitude for their holistic commitment to their duty and our safety.
Every police officer I have known would have done what the McKeowns did. They consider their vocation to be a true calling and risk themselves, whether on duty or not, to protect those they serve. We should pray daily and gratefully for their safety (1 Timothy 2:1–2) and seek other ways to express our support.
Two: The Judge of the universe sees what we do not.
Scripture warns us: “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Whether humans know of our sins or not, God does. We do well to remember every day that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Good will be rewarded; sin will lead to a loss of reward (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12–15).
Thomas Fuller: “Let us stop the progress of our sin in our soul at the first stage, for the farther it goes the faster it will increase.”
The next time you face temptation, ask yourself: If a police officer or my family were watching me, would I do this?
Then remember that your Father is.