Sunday night is called Hang Out for the teens I work with. We usually do something fun so that they can bring their friends to something non-threatening and non-churchy. Last night we met at Starbucks and all hung out for a little bit and then went back to the church to work on the upcoming Family Night that the teens are in charge of.
On the way back, most of us were in the bus but there were 2 cars with kids in them and they went up a different way than us. The car in front saw a shoe on the side of the road so they stopped to pick it up and threw it at the car behind them (they like to throw stuff out of moving cars, I know). There was a truck behind the second car and when this happened he sped past them and pulled up beside the first car and pointed a gun at the driver. When the first car saw this he slammed on his breaks and so did the second car. The man got out of his truck and started towards them and they both sped off and got inside the church quickly.
After they got inside we pulled up in the bus, not knowing what had happened but the truck was in our parking lot. Rob told me to get the kids inside and he went to talk to the dude. The truck dude said he was a cop and some kids were being stupid so he wanted to report them. Rob said it was fine for the cops to come up and they could talk about it and the guy drove off. Rob saw the gun in the car. After all of those involved talked they decided that the guy really wasn't a cop (what kind of cop would point a gun at kids being stupid?) and they called the cops.
The police came up to the church and got exact descriptions of everything that happened from each of the kids, and drove some of them to identify a car that turned out not to be him. As far as we know they never got the guy, but the cops did agree that the truck guy was not one of them.
We finished our night like we were supposed to, and explained everything to the parents and ended the night singing The Lord Is A Warrior. Rob made it very clear to the kids that it was not a coincidence that nothing really bad happened and that God was protecting us. As scary as it was, it could have been so much worse and now it is just a good story to tell.
Monday, April 16, 2007
- beckalippy April 18, 2007 at 1:29 PM
-
Hey Deanna
This is Becka... you wrote on my blog about Chile. I totally have contacts in Temuco, so email me at beckalippy@gmail.com and I can get some names and maybe emails together for you. God bless!
Becka
2
comments:
Hey, Deanna!
Great story, one to save for the grandkids!
Anyway, we live about 1 hour, 20 minutes from Temuco, Chile. We go there about every two weeks. That's where the mall is, and that's where McDonalds is!
Anyway, so you'll know, Temuco is considered "evangelized" because they have many protestant churches. But, truth be told, if you were to ask most of them if they knew if they were going to Heaven and why, they'd give you a blank stare.
We need more people here to give witness of Jesus Christ and the salvation He provided for us on the cross.
There are over a quarter of a million people in Temuco. There is a large population of Mapuche indians. That also means that there is a great deal of pure paganism here.
May God bless your plans to serve Him!
Rhonda Arias, missionary to Chile