U.S. officials persuaded Katherine Lester to take the return flight from Amman, FBI Special Agent Robert Beeckman said from the agency's Detroit office.
Katherine had disappeared from her home in Gilford, in eastern Michigan, on Monday and apparently planned to visit a man whose MySpace account describes him as a 25-year-old from Jericho, said Tuscola County Undersheriff James Jashinske.
The sheriff's department contacted the FBI, which traced the teen to a flight from New York to Amman, Jashinske said. On Thursday night, her family received word from U.S. officials that she had been stopped as she arrived in Amman en route to Tel Aviv, Israel.
Katherine's mother, Shawn Lester, said her daughter had persuaded her in April to help her get a passport so she could go on a two-week vacation to Canada with a friend's family.
On Sunday, they drove to a bus station for that trip, but the family didn't show up. Shawn Lester said she called them, learned there was no trip and brought her daughter home. The next day, Katherine was gone.
Jashinske said it remained unclear whether any law had been violated. An online conversation with a 16-year-old is not illegal in Michigan, but solicitation for sex would be. He said deputies confiscated the family's home computer and were taking it to the FBI's Bay City office Friday for analysis. FBI spokesman Brian Endrizal declined to provide any details and would not comment on the man's identity or background.
WHAT DOES TODAY'S SCRIPTURE TEACH US ABOUT CHOOSING FRIENDS?
Proverbs 13:20/ NLT says, "Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; whoever walks with fools will suffer harm."
Friends can make us or break us. We must be careful whom we choose as our closest friends.
The teenage girl from Michigan made a poor choice in getting to know the twenty-five-year old man from Jordan. She lied to her parents to go see the man. Thankfully, the authorities found her before what might have been a very sad ending to a disturbing story.
This does not mean that followers of Christ should not become friends with unbelievers. That's the best way to communicate Christ's love. But we must be smart about who we hang out with.
Ask yourself if unbelievers are being drawn to Jesus because of your friendship, or are you being pulled away from Christ by them? Are your closest friends people who want to be close to Jesus?
Thank God for His practical Word. Ask Jesus to help you be honest in evaluating your friendships. Ask Jesus to help you choose friends who will help you be "become wise" rather than a "fool" who "gets in trouble".
While you're at it, try this to:
* Write out an honest evaluation of your friendships. List your 10 closest friends. Which ones are helping you become like Jesus? Which ones are not? Are you making progress in helping them learn about Christ's love or are they pulling you away from Christ?
* Spend some time with an older Christian friend who can share Godly wisdom with you. If you don't have a friend like this, pray for God to bring this kind of friend into your life.
* If you are a MySpace user, evaluate if it is a positive or negative influence in your relationship with Jesus. BE HONEST!
6 comments:
Thats wild, even though it happens every day (and not just in America) I still find stories like this to be unbelievable. What does someone halfway around the world have to offer to a 16 year old to make her want to do something so reckless. Somebody ought to find that man and poke him in the eye with his own computer mouse for talking to a child in that manner.
ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW WAS A "NOT SMART GIRL" (TRYIN 2 NOT USE THE STU WORD)......
THAT THING DAT YOU SAID ABOUT MYSPACE USERS KINDA AMDE ME THINK
BUT I DONT THINK I DO ANYTHING WRONG ON MYSPACE I MEAN I USE 2 TALK 2 MY CLOSEST FRIENDS AND COUSINS UNLIKE MOST WHO USE IT FOR OTHER "NOT SMART" MESS
~KANEICA =P
Influence is a powerful thing and the kinds of friends we choose have a great influence on our behavior. Like I preached this past Sunday, you have to "Guard Your Heart!" One way you guard your heart is to be careful WHO and WHAT you give your heart to! MySpace like many other things can become wrong because of how people use it. Just be careful on MySpace like you are picking friends and IF if ever becomes a problem, be strong enough to DISCONNECT from it!
Pastor
Wow, that was a wacked story, but it helps me understand why my parents won't let me have one. It is crazy that that girl ran off to see a guy in another country!But then again, maybe it isnt that suprising because people do that kind of thing all the time. I hope that experience taught that girl a lesson.
Zach
wow that girl wasn't smart at all. My parents are always telling me to be careful, now i know why they tell me that all the time.
i don't think i'm doing anything wrong on myspace. I use it to talk to my friends and most of them are from my old church in california. i dont use it for "NON-SMART" things like that girl.
!*VANESSA*! =b
You write very well.
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