Satan Has Guns

It was about 9:30 PM on Friday, July 10th, 2009 when I got a phone call that nearly changed my life forever. I was leading a Praying Pelican Mission trip and about to go into my orientation meeting. We had three groups coming together for the week and the plans came together in the last days. The week was looking great and I was ready for our meeting. My fiancé, Emily, called and was clearly shaken up. I remember the words, “They took everything, they took it all, it’s all gone.” She frantically explained that she and three of our other staff members were robbed at gunpoint outside of our apartment in Montego Bay. As the four of them arrived back at our apartment after a staff meal and meeting, three men approached them from the other side of the road. They all had hanker chiefs over their mouths . They began asking for a few things and our staff didn’t think much of it, because this was not uncommon in Jamaica. The strange thing was that they were nearby our apartment. After our staff began to tell them, “no, we can’t give you anything,” they began to demand for things. Eventually, our staff individually began to realize this was no ordinary Jamaican wanting a hand out from an American citizen, this was a robbery. One of the men pulled out a gun and pointed in the faces of our staff members. Emily managed to throw her purse under the car where they couldn’t see it but the thieves took everything they could from our staff. They attempted to take the car but something stopped them and they ran off. When Emily called me that night I realized that Satan doesn’t only work through little things, like a change of plans or a frustrating situation. Satan has guns. Sometimes he chooses to pull out the big guns and try to make a statement or stop God’s wonderful work. But our God is so much bigger than that. And it’s evident through what happened that although Satan broke through to attempt to hinder God’s work, the Lord prevailed. We were safe, didn’t lose anything of essential value, and Emily’s team (who arrived the next day) is having a great trip. Romans 8:35 and following says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? For it is written, ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a blessed reminder that our God is so much bigger than anything we can imagine. He is greater than our struggle. We must be prepared to die for Him, but also have the faith to know that He will protect us when we need protecting and that He is watching over our every move. For if God is with us, who then can be against us?