Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This

It was a beautiful end to an uneventful day.  We were walking with our dogs in our dog pen.  The sunset was in no way remarkable.  A few streaks of color across a deepening sky.  The moon was full and shining brightly.

I caught a glimpse of a man walking east on our narrow country road.  He was unfamiliar to me, but then I do not know all of the neighbors.  Sassy and Smokey caught sight of the man about the same time and all the dogs joined in on their distrust of this interloper.

My husband had previously seen a vehicle parked on the highway with the lights on and thought this young man might be the driver of the car and in need of assistance.  As he walked toward the man, he asked him if he needed some help.


Sometime last year there was a news story about 2 men who had gone to a home and said they ran out of gas.  The man at the house got his gas can and offered the men a ride back to his car.  He never returned.  His burned body was found in his truck several miles away.  They robbed him of $12.00 and killed him.


My husband is a giving and caring man.  He would have done the same, so when he thought this man may have needed help, it was no surprise that he went to help this young man.

In today's world, helping another human being in distress has become more and more problematic.  People are out of work and in dire straits.  People are using drugs in horrendous numbers.  There are those who simply are sociopaths and it matters not why or what, they simply steal and kill for no apparent reason except the thrill of it all.  Scripture tells us that these days are coming.  It seems they are here.  We live in the country where there is or maybe now, was a sense of complacency about crime and where it would be committed.  The "It will never happen here attitude" needs to become a thing of the past.  It is happening here.  It is happening to us.  It is happening to me.  The idea that home invasions, car jacking, drive-by shootings and the regular crimes of rape, burglary and murder won't happen here is asinine.  It is happening here and will continue and will get worse and worse until THE LORD comes.

The LORD has given us the spirit of discernment, but sometimes (more often than we would like to think) our life or our well-being must be relinquished in order to be within HIS Will.

The young man was walking across our property when my husband got his attention and asked him if he needed some help.  The young man said he was just walking.  As far away from town as we are, that was really odd.

Discernment kicked in and when the man started coming toward my husband, he turned and quickly came back to the house.  When my husband came in, he told me to stay inside.  When he said it, I went to the room where my shotgun is and made sure it was ready to go.

He called 911 and told them there was an intruder on the property.  They asked what he was wearing and we were told to call back if we saw him again.  Two minutes later, I saw him going toward the door of the unoccupied house next door.  Since the building also belongs to us, it was within our jurisdiction to call the Sheriff, again. 

When the Sheriff arrived the young man was hiding in the carport behind the car.  He said some un-named person told him to wait there. (?)

Whatever he was up to or what he was waiting for is unknown.  The situation could have ended far worse.  The man was not forthcoming with what his intentions were.  He appeared to be under the influence of something.  And he was huge.  We can thank THE LORD that things worked out as well as they did.  The Sheriff's Deputy patted him down and took him away in the patrol car.

There we were, adrenaline pumping, blood pressure escalated and as suddenly as it had begun, the event was over.  All it left behind was the fear -  the fear of the unknown and the cumulative affect of all the "what ifs" that we can think of.  Sleeping tonight may be a bit fitful, but we should both sleep.  THE LORD will be with us and keep us and he will give us the Grace to go through whatever is in store for us.  "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."  "Fear not those who can kill the body..."

Shalom.  Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.