Sometime during my Sophomore year in High School, I felt lead to begin reading my Bible during the 15 min. break we had between our classes. I opened my Bible to Psalm 1, one of my favorite passages, and began reading with my Bible hidden in my locker. The words I read went right from my eyes out of my head. It was like I couldn’t understand what I was reading. I thought this was really odd but kept on anyway. I must have read that Psalm 5-7 times before it finally started making sense. I began to pray that I would be the kind of person who was like the tree planted by streams of water.
The next day, instead of hiding what I was reading in my locker, I sat down and had it out on my lap. A friend of mine who was also a believer saw what I was doing and asked if he could join me. The need I felt to connect with God at school was felt by more than just the two of us it seemed, for many students began to come during their break to join us for Scripture reading and prayer. It was a blessing that was soon to lead to practically a church planting experience. There were so many of us that we blocked the hallway and eventually had to move because we were a fire hazard.
During one such time of prayer and Scripture reading, while we were still in the hallway, we faced opposition. A group of guys from the football team began mocking us, calling us names, and shouting things about “separation of church and state”. It took me off guard, but I understood what was going on. I looked over at a friend of mine and I took off my glasses. Now understand, I was in High School, and fighting was one of those things that came with the territory, and I wasn’t the most mature person in the world. My friend, who wasn’t either, nodded at me and we both stood up while the rest were reading the Scripture for that day doing what I should have done- ignore the mockers.
At the time, I knew the two of us couldn’t take out the group of 6 football players, but I was also full of stories of David and Goliath, Gideon, etc. And as we walked up to the group, right before we were in confrontation distance, I was turned to my left as if I was on some kind of invisible track and didn’t have a choice. I looked up and saw a friend of mine that I had been attempting to tell about Jesus.
This guy was probably one of the roughest guys in High School. Adopted/fostered by a caring family, he was taking the path of his birth parents and was headed to doing jail time. He heard the guys shouting things behind me which was becoming increasingly aggressive and offensive. It was one of those times when you think, “O now this is going to get interesting.” My rough friend didn’t have the governor that most of us do and could probably have taken on all 6 sending someone to the hospital.
Now with him at my side, my other friend and I turned around to face them. When my rough friend heard them cussing at me, that was all he needed to hear. I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many cuss words in one sentence before that actually almost made sense, and he shouted them out for all to hear. The intensity just went to the next level. The surrounding students knew this was going to get epic so they formed the ring around all 9 of us. They gathered so thick, no teacher was ever going to get near in time.
Then as I should’ve been getting ready to charge, something happened that I’ll never forget, I felt an incredible calm wash over me. The rough kid was standing next to me, his face contorted in rage, and my other friend was next to him looking at me for the signal. I remember the insults the 6 were saying hitting something before they even got to me and I watched/felt them slide down to the ground. It was amazing, a Matrix bullet experience 5 years or so before the movie came out. I looked at the 6 then at my friends and was kind of puzzled that I wasn’t getting this party started. But the peace was persistent so I looked again at the 6, walked up to the biggest one (my head was his chest height) and asked a question in a calm voice.
“What is your problem?”
“Separation of Church and State!” said one of the 6.
“We’re just reading the Bible and praying, we’re not doing anything against you,” I responded.
Meanwhile, my rough friend was about to take up on the moment that I let slip by. I placed my hand on his shoulder and he stopped. It was at this time, another curious thing happened. The 6 all had their eyes cast on the floor. Before anything else happened a teacher broke through the ring shouting, “Break it up! Break it up!” And it was over.
The next day, I saw the big guy I had talked to. I walked up to him and he immediately apologized for what happened and he even mentioned how he honestly respected what we were doing. It was so surreal. This was the time the power of God became greater to me than a fist to the face. There is no way a fight would have yielded such a powerful outcome. I remember realizing that with His power, hearts are changed. The most I could get out of a good hit is a bloody nose or a black eye, but nothing near to what He did and can do.
About my 2nd year in college, I heard they were still meeting there for prayer and Scripture reading.
-Brian Carter