Have you ever been robbed?
I remember working at a steakhouse here in the upstate MANY years ago (before I knew Christ) and experiencing what I NEVER thought would happen…
It was a Saturday afternoon and, for some reason, we were slammed. The line was literally out the door and I happened to be working the cash register. (People would go through the line, get their drink, order their food and then pay before they sat down.)
So this guy handed me his ticket…I looked at him and noticed he had the hood on his jacket over his head…AND he had on a pair of gloves. I literally thought to myself, “It’s not cold outside…maybe this guy is going to try to rob me.”
I told him how much he owed…he threw a $20 bill at me…and I opened up the cash register to get his change…
That’s when he reached inside of his jacket (and as I saw his hand I began to tell myself, “THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!!!”)
He then began pulling out the largest knife I’ve EVER seen in my life and said something like, “You need to hand me the money.” To which I simply hit one button on the cash register…it opened up…and I told the guy, “it’s yours” while backing away with my hands in the air.
He instructed me to come back to the register and hand him the money…and I told him in a very direct way that his command would NOT be happening! (Did I mention the knife was HUGE?)
So, he came around the counter and approached the register to take out the money…
Then I saw Jennifer.
She was a waitress who worked there…and wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on. The cash register was right next to the window where the servers would come get the food…and she was standing there goofing off with the guys in the kitchen.
He stopped looking at the money for a second and looked at her…so I said, “Hey Jennifer, could you come here for a second.” (By this time I had backed WAY up and was standing about 10 feet from where the robber was.)
She looked at me and noticed that I had my hands up and said something like, “Oh Perry, you’re so funny!”
I realized she thought this was a joke…that I was playing around…and she didn’t notice that right behind her was a dude who had a knife and was seemingly trying to decide between taking the money or taking her.
So I screamed…REALLY LOUDLY (and I think I might have used profanity) that there was a man behind her with a knife…and that she needed to cease and desist flirting with the kitchen boys and walk away. (That is the edited version.)
When I screamed the entire restaurant looked at me…and became VERY silent. Jennifer SPRINTED out of there…and the robbed grabbed the money and ran out the door.
(They caught him 15 minutes later…he was very high and wanted the money to buy more drugs.)
Looking back on that situation makes me see several things…
- Jennifer was in danger
- Someone had to tell her…she wasn’t going to just figure it out…she wasn’t paying attention
- I tried to tell her nicely…but she thought I was joking.
- Understanding the urgency of the situation I cast aside what others thought about me and was willing to make an idiot of myself to get her out of the danger that was right behind her that she was unaware of.
- Romans 10:14-17!!!
We are called to do the same with our friends and family members who do not know Christ!!! More about this tomorrow…