Question: What is the biggest leap of faith you've ever taken? Did it work out for you, or not? Would you do it again?
My Reply:
I was in a class for Urban Ministry in Chicago. We were in a small classroom of an inner-city church with a temporary sliding wall, and a team was talking on the topic of "power".
The presenter opened up the sliding wall and said, "This is my classroom, and everybody needs to leave." Everybody just looked at him and smiled. Then he pulled out a 9mm and said the same thing. Everybody ran out. I got up, but the Lord told me to sit back down, so I did. I even walked to the back of the classroom and sat on a pile of stacked chairs. He ordered me a couple times again to get out, but the Lord said to sit, so I sat.
Now looking down the barrel of the gun, as I'm assuming it's loaded with blanks, I'm also remembering the Brandon Lee incident...even though there were thought to have been blanks in the gun, something shot out of the barrel and killed him. But as I sat there, I figured if the Lord wants me home, He'll take me home.
The guy asked me if I'm going to leave, and I asked, "What, are you going to shoot me?" And he said, "Yeah." He pulled the trigger, I blinked, and heard, "click". He cocked it and pulled the trigger again, "click." He tried this a few times, every time all we heard was "click".
Finally, I got up, figuring I'm ruining his presentation. So getting up, I said, "for the sake of your presentation, I'll get up."
Once out of the room, he had somebody take the gun outside to see what was wrong. On the first pull of the trigger, we all heard a loud "Boom!" The guy responded, "Sure, NOW it works!"
This was all recorded onto video tape in 2004 (or 2005).
I later learned that in such a room that we were in, the sound of the gun firing would've deafened us both for life. I also learned that at such a close distance (1-2 feet), something, even the paper from the blank, most often shoots out, and if it didn't kill me, it would've seriously fried my face, or I would’ve died from the burns.
The next semester, the guy who presented with the gun began attending the seminary where I was attending. He told me later that my response caused him to look at that school, and after watching the tape, he continues to use the experience from that day to minister to gang-bangers.
The presenter opened up the sliding wall and said, "This is my classroom, and everybody needs to leave." Everybody just looked at him and smiled. Then he pulled out a 9mm and said the same thing. Everybody ran out. I got up, but the Lord told me to sit back down, so I did. I even walked to the back of the classroom and sat on a pile of stacked chairs. He ordered me a couple times again to get out, but the Lord said to sit, so I sat.
Now looking down the barrel of the gun, as I'm assuming it's loaded with blanks, I'm also remembering the Brandon Lee incident...even though there were thought to have been blanks in the gun, something shot out of the barrel and killed him. But as I sat there, I figured if the Lord wants me home, He'll take me home.
The guy asked me if I'm going to leave, and I asked, "What, are you going to shoot me?" And he said, "Yeah." He pulled the trigger, I blinked, and heard, "click". He cocked it and pulled the trigger again, "click." He tried this a few times, every time all we heard was "click".
Finally, I got up, figuring I'm ruining his presentation. So getting up, I said, "for the sake of your presentation, I'll get up."
Once out of the room, he had somebody take the gun outside to see what was wrong. On the first pull of the trigger, we all heard a loud "Boom!" The guy responded, "Sure, NOW it works!"
This was all recorded onto video tape in 2004 (or 2005).
I later learned that in such a room that we were in, the sound of the gun firing would've deafened us both for life. I also learned that at such a close distance (1-2 feet), something, even the paper from the blank, most often shoots out, and if it didn't kill me, it would've seriously fried my face, or I would’ve died from the burns.
The next semester, the guy who presented with the gun began attending the seminary where I was attending. He told me later that my response caused him to look at that school, and after watching the tape, he continues to use the experience from that day to minister to gang-bangers.
Would I do it again? Sure, if the Lord tells me to do it again.
---Pastor Andy
Click here to read of a very similar event that just recently happened to one of my friends.
3 comments:
Wow that's cool...=) You should post this on Xanga...
That is a pretty cool story. I am unclear on who the guy was with the gun, though. Was he the presenter to your group? Or was he presenting to another group and felt you guys were bothering him? And was he actually intending to shoot you?
This is a pretty amazing story. I should hope that I would have the kind of courage to listen to God in such a circumstance.
JN: Thanks! Actually, on my Xanga, I posted a friend's similar experience that happened recently.
Michael: Thanks! Sorry about the confusion. The guy was a classmate, and his team was doing a presentation on "power". He told everybody to get out as a segue to introducing the gun as his demonstration on power.
He told me afterwards (the next semester) that he was actually expecting one of the other guys to do what I did, but when that guy ran out of the room and I stayed, he just improvised. The gun was loaded with blanks, and yes, he was intending on shooting. Praise the Lord for not letting him though. Otherwise, if I'd even survived, we'd both at least be deaf and he'd be ministering to gang bangers inside jail.
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