Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!" 3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper, And from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; 6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; {But} it shall not approach you. 8 You will only look on with your eyes, And see the recompense of the wicked. 9 For you have made the Lord, my refuge, {Even} the Most High, your dwelling place. 10 No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent. 11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. 12 They will bear you up in their hands, Lest you strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down. 14 "Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him {securely} on high, because he has known My name. 15 "He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him. 16 "With a long life I will satisfy him, And let him behold My salvation."

Last night was interesting. My wife and I had to do some work for her job and after taking care of a couple of items, we ended up in a rather questionable neighborhood. Now, around here, questionable neighborhood means something different than it does in bigger cities but this place just felt bad.

We had to inspect a property that had just recently been vacated. As soon as we parked, I looked at my wife. "Do you feel that?" I asked her. "Yes, I do," she said, sort of shuddering.

Have you ever been somewhere and had that awful, sticky, I shouldn't be here sort of feeling? This place was like that... BAD! I haven't felt a darkness like that in a long long time.

I had my wife stay in the van with the kids and I went in to do the inspection. The property was awful inside. The carpets had obviously never been cleaned, there was stuff on the walls (some of which looked like blood but who knows), there were fist-sized holes in the walls in a couple of places, and all of the doors (i.e. bedroom, closet, etc.) were missing on the inside. Later we found out this was due to the tenant getting drunk and falling into them/punching or kicking them/etc.

Then, we went to leave. Cassi tried to start the van. CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK. That's all that happened. We tried over and over and over. It wouldn't start, no matter how hard we tried. I called my Dad (see, I'm a computer guy, not a car guy) and asked him. He said it sounded like the battery was dying.

So here we are, in a strange neighborhood where it's obvious that lower-income folks live, we have that awful sticky feeling surrounding us, and the van will not start. It was still pretty hot out and we had the boys and our baby girl with us.

Then someone started walking across the street. Because of the feeling I had, my first instinct was to question this young man's intentions. What does he want? What is he up to? How can I protect my family. Then God spoke a question into my head, "What are you doing?" It caught me off guard but I replied, "I'm trying to protect my family. I don't know this neighborhood, I'm uncomfortable here, I don't know what this guy's intentions are... I'm being cautious and protecting my family." Then God spoke words into my head that I will never forget.

You can't protect your family. That's My job.

I was floored. I relinquished my feelings of apprehension towards the young man and let go. He asked if we were stranded and I told him that I thought our battery was dead. His friend then came over who obviously knew about cars and looked at it. We tried to jump start it but the battery would not hold a charge. It was getting late and I was trying to figure out how to get a battery there so that I could get my family home.

"I've got a battery in the back of my truck. It's brand new," the second guy said.

Who has a battery just laying around in their truck? I mean really! At any rate, I allowed him to put the battery in the van and, of course, it started right up. I asked if I could use the battery to drive to the store and get a new one and he said, "Don't worry about it. No problem." I told him we needed to go home to get some cash first and that it would take a while. He said, "No problem." I asked him if I could give him my cell phone number so he could get a hold of me. Then he said, "Don't worry about it. I've got faith."

I've got faith--such a simple and yet powerful statement. I don't know where this man's heart and relationship with God is but that statement was so amazingly comforting.

We left and took the kids home. The whole way home my wife and I were trying to decide what we could possibly give them for their kindness. The first man had mentioned that he had just lost his job and that he had a baby girl the same age as ours. Then it hit my wife. The formula that we had which we were going to give to the church food pantry as our tithe this past Sunday was what he needed. "That's why we forgot it on Sunday," my wife realized, astonished. We both sat in amazement of the grace and timing of God.

Long story short, we took the formula to the young couple, we ended up giving the second gentleman one of our best steaks (seemed strange but we didn't know what or have much else to give) that came from my wife's grandfather. We were blessed, hopefully they were blessed, and we saw, yet again, the power, grace, and mercy of God.