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His Own Trap

 In Washington State a 17-year-old would be thief decided to vandalize a Louis Vuitton store. This was going to be his first heist, so perhaps he was a little nervous. Security cameras caught the whole thing: the masked teenager frantically grabbing as many of the high-priced bags as he could, stuffing them into a larger bag, and then bolting for the exit.

That’s when he made a critical mistake that led to his capture. He sprinted towards the glass doors that stood between him and a clean getaway, but he ran into the doors. Either he didn’t see the glass (hats off the to the custodian) or he thought it would open automatically. Either way, he ran into the glass so hard that he knocked himself unconscious, and was still out cold when the police came and cuffed him. 

This young man fell into his own trap. He was so focused on making a speedy exit that he literally ran into the exit. And of course, if he weren’t breaking the law, he would not have had any problems. 

In the book of Psalms David prayed for his enemies to suffer a similar fate. In 35:8 he wrote, “Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction!”

The thought of falling into one’s own trap is humorous, but that was what David asked for. The idea is that some put themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, and then it blows up in their face. If you weren’t trying to burglarize a store, you would be sitting in the slammer with a concussion.

Maybe you haven’t tried to swipe any Louis Vuittons, but you may be laying a trap for yourself. You might be playing with fire and are about to be burned. Being in a place you shouldn’t be in, with people you shouldn’t be with, doing something you shouldn’t do—that is a recipe for falling into your own trap—to your destruction. If you know you are getting dangerously close to going down a wrong path, make a quick U-turn before you regret it.  

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