I found the capture of Whitey Bulger fascinating.  Bulger ran the largest New England crime syndicate out of Boston for years.  By all reports, he had a raging temper, was well connected, and ruthless. 

For sixteen years he eluded the FBI, apparently running from place to place.  The last several years, he lived in plain sight in Santa Monica, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  He often slipped into Mexico to get prescription drugs.  He even visited Alcatraz as a tourist.  How could someone like that not be arrested for sixteen years? 

The arrest is not the fascinating part; it’s how the arrest happened.  After years of frustration, the FBI used a new tactic.  Instead of splashing Whitey Bulger’s picture across the country, they sent out a public service announcement about his long-time live-in girl friend.  Within two days the arrest occurred.

How big was this arrest?  Whitey Bulger had a reward for capture of $2 million.  His girl friend had a reward of $200,000.  Whitey Bulger has been implicated in nineteen murders.  He stood next to Usama Bin Laden on the FBI’s most wanted list.

I want to know how you can run and hide for sixteen years.  Is that really life, always afraid, always looking over your shoulder?  One of the Proverbs says that “the wicked flee when no one pursues” (Proverbs 28:1).  How tragic to live at war with yourself and with others.

It makes me think of Jesus, who came to reconcile us to God, making peace with us and peace with our past.  “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:18). Paul knew how important being right with God is.  He also knew what it meant to have peace.

God came to give us peace.  It is free to all.  It comes as we open our lives to God and accept His work on the cross for us.