On 9/11, 1963, The Fugitive began its four-year run on television. The mystery thriller starred David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble, a man who had been falsely accused and arrested for killing his wife. Lt. Sam Gerard doggedly pursued the innocent doctor for four years as Kimble valiantly sought to find the one-armed man who was responsible for his wife’s death. The final two-part episode was the highest rated television program at that time.

Every week the American television audience was captivated by Kimble’s ingenious methods of living incognito and narrowly escaping the unabating pursuit of the determined Gerard, whose scowl was enough to curdle the milk of human kindness in the warmest heart. In more recent years a movie based on the theme of the old television program has been widely distributed and shown throughout the nation.

The FBI regularly publishes a list of their most wanted criminals. We are familiar with the concept of what it means to be a fugitive. The most recent and most infamous fugitives on record have been hiding somewhere in the Middle East.

And just when our hopes for the capture of one of those fugitives were growing abysmally dim, he was miraculously discovered in what was described as a “spider hole.” When Saddam Hussein was found near his hometown of Tikrit he was disheveled, unkempt – in a word, “filthy.” Newsweek reported that he had in his possession a couple of Mars candy bars and a can of roach spray.

The point was even more brought home as Paul Bremer, the United States administrator in Iraq said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!”

Now, the search for Osama bin Laden intensifies. He has successfully eluded his pursuers in this international “hide and seek” escapade for much too long. His hiding place could be in any one of thousands of caves in the desolate mountains of Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Furthermore, he has instructed his followers to plant explosives around his hideout whenever he stops to make sure that he dies as a martyr in the “Holy War” he wages, rather than be captured by soldiers from the United States.

Bin Laden is a fugitive. Millions of people want to see him captured and brought to justice. But this leader of the Taliban is not the only fugitive in the world today. In fact, history is replete with fugitives. They are everywhere.

The Garden of Eden had some fugitives – Adam and Eve. After they had disobeyed God and eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they hid from God. They were fugitives and God came looking for them.

Jonah was a fugitive. He had been commanded by God to go to Nineveh to preach to the people of that great city. The reluctant prophet headed out in the other direction, became a fugitive, and found his “spider hole” in the belly of a whale.

The Apostle Paul was a fugitive. Although he didn’t realize it, he was running from God. The Lord pursued him and found him on the road to Damascus. In a rather amazing encounter he was captured by the Lord, made accountable for his rebellious past, and changed for eternity.

There have been times when I have been a fugitive, running from God and trying to escape accountability or evade His will or pursue lesser gods. Have you ever been a fugitive? It might just be worth your time to check it out.

It is entirely possible that we are happy that the media has turned the world’s attention on the Bully of Baghdad and the Tyrant of the Taliban, because it makes our sins look a little more respectable and we assume it takes us off the “Most Wanted” list. But there is no little sin, because there is no little God to sin against; and while it is true that one step closer to God may make us more of a follower, one step away from him makes us more of a fugitive.