He ALWAYS has me...

Two weeks ago there was a series of tragic events that happened in my neighborhood. When things like this happen God always has me either gone somewhere or having just missed it. I don't find out about it until after the fact because I'm not around right when it's happening. He ALWAYS keeps me safe. On a Thursday night, one of the girls and I were passing out flyers to the teens about our new meeting place. We walked past an apartment right behind mine and noticed there were police inside the apartment. I didn't think a whole lot about it, because there are police here often. Later I found out that someone had been robbed at gun point in that apartment. But, we just happened to be covering another side of the neighborhood when it happened. A few days later on a Sunday, I pulled into the neighborhood around 9pm, I had been gone all day. I saw a fight and a lot of commotion. I stood there, rebuked the spirit of strife and prayed for peace. A minute later a police car pulled up, so I went inside believing they had it covered. At that point I didn't know what the fight was about. The next day, Monday, I found out that a young man who has come for lunch a few times on Wednesdays was abducted that night in John DeShields at gun point one hour before I arrived and I suppose this is what the fight was about. The people who abducted him murdered him later on that night. Some people believe this abduction and murder may have been related to the robbery on Thursday night. On Monday, I was gone for about 3 hours. When I returned to John DeShields, there were about 10 police in the neighborhood and some CSI officers. They had some areas taped off with crime tape. I pulled up to my apartment not knowing what was going on until I spoke with a few people in the neighborhood. At this point, I didn't know about the robbery or abduction, but soon found out why the police were here again. An hour before I came home on Monday, around 2pm, someone had fired 5 shots into the apartment that was robbed on Thursday night. The police were there investigating the scene of the crime. Thankfully no one was home when they fired the shots into the apartment. As my neighbors told me the sequence and timing of the events, inside my heart I was just overwhelmed at how perfectly God had directed my steps over the past few days without me even knowing it. He does this ALL the time and truly is the best PROTECTOR I know. Another great part about this, is that a week before all of this happened, a friend had invited me to stay with her for a few days. So that Monday night I went away and spent my evenings there, but came home during the day to work. He allowed me to be in a peaceful place at a time when there could have been much retaliation.