Growing up as a missionary kid in Guatemala, it was normal to see soldiers with machine guns everywhere. One time when my mother was standing in line at the bank, I looked over at the soldier standing in the corner. His finger was on the trigger of his machine gun. I thought oddly to myself, if I went behind him and said, “Boo!” lots of people would be killed. I thought it was foolish for the soldier to have his finger on the trigger! What was he thinking?
Our house was located near the university, and there were riots going on at the university all the time. We would hear gunshots or machine gun fire every once in awhile, and we just carried on because everything was normal. Firecrackers were popular to set off, and they sounded very similar to gunshots, so if you paused any time you heard a popping sound, you would never get anything done. For example, people popped firecrackers whenever it was someone’s birthday, Christmas, New Years, and any other excuse for a celebration. Charred newspaper remains were often seen blowing along on neighborhood streets, because few people ever bothered to pick that up.
Well, one day, a stray bullet flew through the window, just inches from where my baby sister was standing. The window hadn’t stopped the bullet, the curtain hadn’t stopped the bullet, but the couch did. It was an ugly green couch, and maybe that bullet was the turning point that caused my parents to buy a new couch after so many years. Nevertheless, my sister was okay. She wasn’t dead. She wasn’t even injured. God is in control of even the stray bullets, but it sure was a scare. The odd thing was that we continued to live in that house, and it didn’t really affect our lives very much, except for the fact that we were grateful that my sister was still alive!
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Tags: bullet, childhood, Guatemala, machine guns
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What scary stuff. I did a mission trip to Jamaica when I was 17, and there were riots while we were there. We had to go on lockdown in a building with all the shutters closed and locked. It was a couple of days before we were allowed back out.
How scary!
I found this to be very interesting to read!
Thank goodness your sister was not harmed-and thank goodness the green sofa was put out of it’s misery!
We kept that green sofa for a long time, even with the bullet hole.
How scary! Sadly, we’re seeing this more and more even here in the U.S. with drive-by shootings and other such violence. It’s sad that people can’t manage to get along.
Violence is only increasing…. Thankfully this points to the coming of Christ!
It’s a miracle (God’s miracle) that you and your sister both came through this 🙂
It wasn’t God’s will that she die.
God’s miracles and timing is a beautiful thing and hard to understand. Obviously a blessing in this situation but that’s not always the case for others. Our world is very unpredictable but thankfully it’s not really our home!
When we know where we are going after death, we no longer have to fear it. I’ve been close to death many times.
How scary! I take for granted my safety here.
I’m so glad your sister was ok!
I’m so glad, too!
What a beautiful testimony lady! And I love the imagery of the bullet being the turning point in the life of that couch!
Hahaha! That couch was so ugly; it was just as well…