617729

There are many times in my life when I have heard others talk about how they reacted in a crisis and I have said, “Well I wouldn’t have done that, I would have…” I have discovered that in the midst of a crisis reactions can be so fast that you never truly realize the danger until it has passed.

Today a kid walked up to me on the street while I was walking from the school at 9:20 in the morning and said, “¡Deme todo!” (Give me everything!) He literally bumped into me when I tried to walk past him and I replied, “¿Qué?” (What?), because I did not realize that he was really robbing me. I was not scared. He was just a 20-something punk kid, but then he showed me his “pistola” saying in Spanish he had a gun and I needed to hand everything over to him. For those of you that don’t know, I was in the military, and I immediately looked at the gun and thought it could be a fake. Then again, I thought about the fact that he was bold enough in broad daylight to rob me, so it might just be real. I handed him my book bag and he asked me for my money. I told him I didn’t have any and then I started yelling, “¡Ayúdame! ¡Él me robó!” As he ran off, I chased him around the corner. He jumped into his waiting car and sped off as I memorized the tag number 617729 and the type of car (a gray Nissan sedan).  I turned to see who had witnessed this and found a man in a white van willing to help me as I wanted to write down the tag number. A lady nearby had seen the car speed off and she too remembered the last 4 numbers of the tag, and saw where the car had turned up the street. The kind man in the white van, José, called the police with the information. The nearest small police station was actually ¼ mile down the street and we waited about 3 minutes for them to show up. When they never did, José drove me the couple of blocks to the station. The police were there and after giving them the information again (they received it the first time, but I guess had not planned to leave yet to catch the man) they left in a motorcycle and police car. I will give the lady cop credit in that she found a large assault rifle, grabbed extra clips, loaded it, and got into the patrol car like she meant business. The two guys looked really “tranquilo”, but she was loaded for bear. Atta girl!

  Anyway, I am told that the police need me to go downtown and fill out a report to be able to do anything, and even then they believe the car and tags are stolen. I can say a friend was robbed about two weeks ago by a guy in a similar gray car and matching this kid’s description, and a couple just a week before that all within two blocks of the school. If all this happened so that he can finally be caught I am happy to forfeit my books, backpack, Franklin translator, and tape recorder, but I will say that losing my favorite little red Celtic HCSB Bible hurt some. There was also in my backpack a Bible study in Spanish called Vida Abundante with a simple study on the gospel of John. Most of all I pray he reads that. That alone would make it worth it all to me. I pray he comes to know the Savior that can heal and forgive. I thank God that my children were not with me, and I ask all of you to pray for this man and for the safety of the people at our language school. God is sovereign and I know that no one is beyond His power to save.