It’s 1990, in Ottawa, Canada. Danny is about to make one of the biggest mistakes of his life. He’s planning to use his father’s gun to rob a bank.

Danny visits the bank every day for a week. He’s trying to decide what is the best time to make his move. The 24-year-old doesn’t realize that he’s captured on video tape every time he walks into the bank. After the Royal Canadian Mounted Police review the tapes, as they do after any bank robbery, Danny’s image will be there for identification.

The night before the robbery Danny goes over to his mother and father’s home for supper. While mom and dad are busy in the kitchen, Danny slips into their bedroom, opens dad’s dresser drawer and steals the gun that’s always there.

The next day Danny uses the gun to hold up the bank and leaves with two canvas money bags loaded with $6,000. Security tapes show Danny as both "frequent visitor" and the holdup guy. In short order the Mounties identify Danny and later burst into his apartment to reclaim the bank’s money. The holdup weapon is taken into evidence.

Danny gets six years in prison. If he behaved well, he may be out by the time you read this. Hopefully he’s learned an important lesson. That lesson was explained to me by my pastor, Reverand Steve Cloud:

Look at the gifts you have already before you start wishing for something else. Danny had no need to rob that bank. He got $6,000, but what a terrible price he paid for it.

What gift did Danny have already? Why he had the gun. You see, this was no ordinary gun. This was a .45-caliber Colt semi-automatic made by the Ross Rifle Company back in 1918. This limited edition antique firearm was valued at some $100,000.

For Danny’s misdeed Canada made him pay six years of his young life. Canada, on the other hand, gained a valuable relic to display in a provincial museum. A poor trade-off, no matter how you measure it.