Page 80 - Evidence of Things Unseen

with a number of the women from Living Faith. She called one of them to ask if she could
ride with these women, who were all close friends at the time, and she was informed that
Richard’s wife had told the other women that they were not to pick Tony up. Tony could not
understand why she was being shunned in this way, for she had done everything the
ministers and their wives told her, and had chosen to align with them in all the matters we
were dealing with. Tony was devastated at this rejection, and she went into her room to cry.
I felt great sorrow for my wife, for I understood the pain of being rejected by friends,
and I wept for her and asked God to comfort her heart. No explanation was ever given as
to why the women had chosen to avoid Tony, but I knew God had answered my prayer to
cut off from Tony all the unrighteous influences in her life. Tony quit attending church at
Living Faith, and there was an immediate softening in her attitude.
God had to do one more work in my wife’s life, for she had been entertaining the
thought that if things got bad enough she could divorce me and return home to her parents
and live with them, taking our children with her. God had to show her that this was not the
panacea that she considered it to be.
The neighborhood in Payne City was ruled by gangs, and there was much crime
present. God watched over us, however, and we knew His faithful hand of protection as we
had known everywhere else. One day I was hanging a banner on the front of the house. The
banner had the word “Faith” on it, with images of a cross and an anchor. Faith in God was
my anchor in that hour, and I wanted to display this banner as a testimony of the One in
whom we were trusting.
As I was hanging the banner, an elderly woman drove up, and she got out of her car
and approached me. She asked if I was a minister, and I told her I was. She began sharing
with me about how she had been terrorized by the gangs living in the neighborhood. She
lived one block behind us and on more than one occasion young men had cut her phone line
and power line at night with the intent of breaking in and robbing her, and possibly
harming her. She said that gang members lived on either side of her house, and they wanted
to run her off so they could have her house.
I inquired as to whether she had family, and she told me she had family in Florida, but
did not want to move there. I asked her if she was a part of a church, and she said she
attended a large church in Macon, but she did not feel that she could ask them for help. I
held her hands and prayed for her, and she left thanking me profusely.
About a week later I was sleeping in a recliner in the living room due to my sciatica,
and about 4:30 AM I heard two gunshots. They were very loud, and very close by. My wife
and kids did not hear them, but continued sleeping. A few minutes later there was a banging
at the front door, and I heard the voice of this elderly woman asking me to hurry and open
the door. I threw on some clothes, and unlocked the door and she came in. By this time my
wife and kids were awake, and they listened as this woman said that someone had cut her
phone line and power again, and they had then broken a window to come in her house. She
kept a gun under her pillow and had fired two shots into the ceiling, scaring off the
intruders. She brought this gun with her when she came to our house, and she laid it on our
kitchen table. She asked if she could use our telephone to call the police. When the police
arrived she returned to her house.
My wife had been very frightened by the neighborhood already, and she told me daily
of her fears. Just the day before, I had heard God tell me to let my wife go stay with her
parents if she was afraid to stay with me in Payne City. After hearing the report of this
woman, I knew Tony would want to leave, so I told her that if she wanted to go to her