GUNPOINT
It was summer at the Bible
college, and we were paired up for an outreach challenge. We had two days to
get from our campus in Kansas down to an onion farm in Texas. We were sent out
in teams of two. My partner was blind, so I took the lead in our venture. Neither
of us had cars, so we had to hitchhike. An 18-wheeler stopped, and up we
innocently climbed.
My partner folded his
white cane and felt his way up into the back seat. I got in on the passenger
side of the front seat.
The driver was a burly,
unshaven man, around fifty-something, I guessed. He seemed okay at first. In a
low, gravelly voice, he barked, “Where you kids goin’?”
“Down to harvest onions on
a farm in Texas,” I answered.
“Uh huh, Uh huh.” He
wasn’t much of a talker, so we drove on in uncomfortable silence. The A/C was
on, but his forehead was red and sweaty and his brown hair was all greasy
looking and sweaty too. He was getting fidgety, and I could hear him breathing
louder and louder. His hand snaked down under the seat between us, and I saw
the gun come up in slow motion. He pointed right at my face.
He drawled, “You’re gunna
do whatever I want.”
I stiffened and gasped,
holding my breath as my body froze for what seemed like forever. At that point
I had no cognizance of my blind partner in the back seat. I was all alone,
physically frozen in time, but my mind was racing frantically, “Jesus! Jesus!
Jesus! Help me!”
My body seemed to melt,
but then I felt instantly strengthened from the inside as a palpable and
powerful peace poured down over me and through my soul. I drew in a deep breath
and slowly made myself as tall as I could in the seat, as I slowly turned
sideways in the seat to face my aggressor.
My action obviously
confused him, and he turned a little frantic himself, trying to hold the gun in
my face and watch me and the road at the same time.
I spoke with loud and
clear authority, “You put that down right now in the name of Jesus Christ!” He
did it, obeying my words like a robot. “Now pull over.” He did. I knew he
didn’t want to let us go, but under the authority of the Lord, it was like he was
a prisoner to my words, and he couldn’t do anything but obey. “Now we’re
getting out!” And we did.
Even as I write this, I’m
a little amazed that it was real, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus was in
the midst of a group of Pharisees who wanted to kill him, and He walked right
through. “They
up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple,
going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:59).
In another life-threatening situation, Jesus
stopped a raging storm. “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the
ship, so that it was now full. And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and
said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased, and there was a
great calm” (Mark 4:37,39).
When Paul and Silas went
to Philippi to preach the gospel, the magistrates “thrust them into the inner prison, and
made their feet fast in the stocks” (Acts 16: 24). But after Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises, a miracle
happened. They were immediately able to walk right out of that prison. (Acts
16:24-34).
In John 14:27, Jesus said:
“My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
We can’t always avoid
trouble, but we CAN walk through it with Jesus Christ as our Lord. When that
man pointed a gun at my face, I cried out to Jesus, and instantly, he gave me his
peace, strength, confidence, and the exact words to speak to attain my and my
partner’s freedom.
Jesus lived on earth as a
man. He knows how to do it right. As our Lord and leader, he often guides us
away from trouble. But if we get into trouble, he will do amazing things to get
us out. He loves us, and we can trust him.
Reading about his life in
the gospels, we learn that he could get around and through every kind of
situation, and we can, too, with his help.
Let’s pray to get to know him
better, trust him, and love him even more.
Love, Carolyn
