Recently we were setting up in the John DeShields Neighborhood to serve lunch to the young men. Within minutes, we heard gun fire just around the corner. Two guys walked up to a group of about ten young men who were playing dice and shot one of them in the leg. I'm assuming he wanted his money. Thankfully, we didn't see them fire the gun.

In the past, if something like this happened, I ran into my apartment and got down on the floor. But now that I don't live there, I didn't know where we could go for shelter. I knew if we drove off, we would be driving right past the corner where the gun fire occurred. So, we got in my car, laid back in the seats and began praying.

My car was a good temporary spot, but with situations like this, you never know what else will occur. I knew we needed to get to a more secure spot. I slightly opened my car door and looked out to see if there was an apartment we could run into. I saw one of the young men who comes to eat on Wednesdays. Without any words, we made eye contact and he motioned with his hand for us to come inside. A few minutes later, one of the other guys yelled out, "It's ok now, they're all gone." Shortly after this, several police cars came filing in.

I knew that we needed to put our safety first. A few guys helped us quickly load everything into my car and we left the neighborhood. We thanked God that He protected us and that our guys had our back. We remembered that God had given us a warning exactly the week before while reading a Christian article. It stated, that in order to live inside of God's protection, we must be aware of His promptings. I shared this with the volunteers and told them to be aware of this when we serve lunch. God was preparing us to know what to do in the situation that was to come.

Later that day, I got a text from the lady who used to be my neighbor. She said, "Did that scare you guys away and are you gonna come back?" Wow, what an opportunity to let her know that just because we had to leave for that moment, didn't mean we were leaving for good.

We went back the next day to check on her and the guys who took care of us. They said, "We were mad at the shooters, because they ran you guys off and we were looking forward to eating those hamburgers." We thanked the young man who let us inside of his apartment. He responded with, "Well, you would have done it for me." We reaffirmed them that we would be back next week at the same time as usual. It was so good to be able to let them know that we're there to stay and this situation isn't going to run us off.

Our eyes were opened again to God's wonderful protection that He so faithfully provides. We were extremely thankful to Him that something worse didn't happen. It was also a reminder of the reality of what goes on in the neighborhood we serve. Even though at times, we are placed in intense situations like these, it is a huge honor and privilege to be able to serve and love those who live right in the jaws of hell.