Death Point Blank Away in Columbus, Ga.

A very close friend of mine I met while at the US Embassy in Kabul Afghanistan when we both were working at the small base related to me a true and frightening story back in 2012. Morris Bowling from the great state of Georgia was our site plumbing supervisor and he told me the following: 

He and a friend were in the friend's VW bug headed to his sister's house one Fall afternoon in the early 70s. This occurred on a 4-lane street in Columbus, Ga. Morris and his friend were 16 yrs. old at the time. They were stopped at a red light not far from the sister's house and in the right hand lane. Morris was sitting in the passenger seat. Another car pulled up close beside them and Morris looked toward the other car. Just as he did, he saw a hand come out the window with a large cal. pistol pointed directly toward them. 

He said the gun was not over 2 ft. from his friend's head. He jerked his friend down into the seat and ducked down himself in a split second as the the gun was fired at them 5 times at point blank range. Morris said it was a .357 magnum as it was close enough to see even the inscription on the thing. The swift action caused the friend's foot to hit the accelerator and their little car sped out of control into a ditch just beyond the intersection. Onced stopped, they leaped from the car and fled on foot to the sister's house. Thankfully the assailant had not pursued them though they heard 2 more shots behind them as they fled.

To this day, they have no idea who did this or why. It was truly a Divine intervention and the mercy of God that prevented this horrible crime and senseless murder from taking place on the streets of Columbus. The newspapers are full of such happenings and seemingly every day our 'shock level' is elevated to more and more atrocities. Less than 30 minutes from where I live is McComb MS where we do most of our shopping and where my wife is employed and hardly a day passes but what someone is shot at or killed senselessly.

I know where I was for 27 months there at the Embassy was a war zone, and later when I went to Kandahar for 24 months the same and before both those tours in Afghanistan in Iraq for 20 months.  A total of 6 years I lived where life was in jeopardy every day. Upon arrival that first day at the Embassy, I stood in my site manager's office and placed angels on the corner of the large aerial map on his wall as he was processing me in on his computer.

"Lord, I want one here, and here and here....." so on and so forth.

He stopped typing and looked over at me and said, "Mr. Dykes, what are you doing?"

I told him that machine gunner who was guarding me as I just got off of that Black Hawk helicopter had put the fear of God in me and I was a redneck preacher from Mississippi and I quoted him Ps 34:7, "The angel of the Lord encamps about them that fear Him."  And at the time I was shaking in my boots!

He stood up and extended his hand and said, "I am Eric Rankins, a back-slid Pentecostal preacher and I am so glad you are here and brought those angels with you!!" He and I went on to become close friends and not one mortar round or rocket came over those 12' concrete t-walls the entire time I was there. 

All around us other bases were hit daily by incoming projectile but not where those angels were posted! And yes, it weighed on my mind every day this could be my last. My life was for real only a vapor there, a wave on the ocean. As David told Jonathan as he hid from Saul his father, "I'm but a step from death".

I knew that was where I was 24/7. However, I also know that America has become a war zone as well. When you leave your house, you don't know if you will return alive and well. Our land is filled with recklessness and abandonment. Criminals with no fear of the law or God are everywhere. 

"Call on me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you..." Ps. 50:15

We have this promise and hopefully the above event or something similar never faces you and I. Go with a prayer today and every day and just know the Angel of God will be with you and deliver you....even at point blank range of a .357 magnum.
 

God bless you all and God bless America.