House of Refuge

Christians are called to seek out the deep things of God and to develop a relationship with Him that is marked by a reliance on His Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding, which can apply to difficult situations. 1st Corinthians 2 states:
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

The mind of Christ - we can have glorious fellowship with our Savior and know that He walks with us. He will activate our minds as we read and study the Word and as we keep the lines of communication open in prayer.  The wisdom of God is available to us, but we have to make sure that we are renewing our minds, as Romans 12, says, so that we can know Him better and walk in His ways. He gives us discernment so that we can reject the negative influences of this world.

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Proverbs 2 highlights for us the ability to discern and walk in wisdom that is given to us by the presence of the Holy Spirit; we can read these words:
10 When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
11 Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things,
13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness...

She had a "bad feeling" about what she saw.  She followed the adage, "when you see something, say something."  The scenario - a Florida woman, according to a Faithwire story, saw two children on bicycles, with an older man behind them, but it didn't look right.  The article referenced a story that ran on WTVT Television - that story said: "She told FOX 13 she was outside a nearby church when she realized something was wrong."  

Apparently, the suspect had connected with the children outside a local restaurant and said he would help them get home.

The story went on to say that law enforcement officers related that the suspect "had already hit one of the elementary school age kids in the head multiple times and had one of them in a headlock."  The woman said, "One of the little girls was mouthing to me, ‘Please help me, this is not my dad...'"

The suspect is a 37-year-old man named David Daniels.  The Faithwire article went on to say:

Rather than panic, the woman reportedly had a conversation with Daniels — who at one point allegedly hit one of the girls in the head several times — and she welcomed the girls inside the house of worship.

“I engaged in conversation with him,” she told WTVT-TV.

The article relates:

The woman called 911 and saved the children, who allegedly believed they were being kidnapped. Now, she’s getting a lot of attention for her kind actions — but doesn’t want recognition.

“I don’t want any recognition for this. I don’t want to be a hero,” she said. “I just did what I hope anybody would do for my own kids.”

Daniels faces "two counts of false imprisonment of a child and child abuse," according to the television station, which quoted the woman as saying: "There are moms out there who are like me. They are going to recognize the signs, and they are going to know what to do," adding, "In that moment, I didn't know if I was going to have the right answer. But they are fine, and they are home today."

The WFLA website shared some insight into the reaction of church members; stating:

Derek Zitco got a frantic call from a woman at his church.

“She calls and I can barely understand what she’s saying, ‘can you get down here quickly, there’s a guy,'” Zitco said.

He rushed a few blocks to his church and found several adults who had barricaded two young girls inside of the building to keep them away from a man on the outside.

“What I was told by the adults that were still there is that this guy had his hands kind of on their necks and was kind of controlling them, saying he was their father and they were obviously shaking their heads saying no,” said Zitco.

They managed to keep the man away from the girls and called 9-1-1.

Zitco said, "The police had actually told us that day that he had skipped bail from Alabama from doing the exact same thing just weeks before..."  The television station reported:

Police in Foley, Alabama had arrested Daniels earlier in June when he claimed there were injured girls in a shed.

Police found no evidence of injured girls and arrested Daniels for criminal trespassing and public intoxication.

Daniels was later released on bond in Alabama, but then traveled out of state to Florida to stay at a relatives house. His troubles in Hillsborough County began after his arrest in Alabama.

A Florida state representative, according to the article, has attempted to get Daniels' bond revoked, State Representative Mike Beltran stated: “He’s obviously a danger to the community. He’s created now a pattern of doing this and the circumstances of the crime show that he doesn’t realize that he did something wrong and that he needs to stop doing this..."

A similar story was circulating more recently about a lady at Stone Mountain Park who encountered a lost child - a woman attempted to claim the child, but the woman didn't feel quite right about it. She contacted a park ranger, and soon thereafter, the real mother showed up. Kelly Pittman said, according to WSB Television:

“I look back and think, ‘What if I had given him to that woman?’ And it just makes me sick,” Pittman said. “I think God was with me, and He was giving me the right instincts in the moment.”

There's plenty to discuss with respect to these stories.  One thing that came to mind about the Florida incident was that people in the church were sensitized to danger.  It's reminiscent of the church shootings in Southern California and Vestavia Hills over the past few months, in which brave church members acted selfishly to save lives.  I would think the woman who led the girls to safety in the church building undoubtedly saw the church as a safe place, and it turns out that is exactly what occurred.

And, there is a glorious idea - the church as a place of refuge.  People should feel safe to bring their burdens and cares to the church, without condemnation or judgment, and receive Christlike love and life-changing truth so that they can be healed.  The house of the Lord is a sanctuary for sinners - which includes all of us - but it is a place where sin can be confessed and forgiven and that healing can take place.

Also, consider the intuition that was exhibited by the heroines in both these stories - they acknowledged that something wasn't right.  I do believe in mother's intuition.  And, I believe in the intuitive nature that Christian believers have through the Holy Spirit.  We can know that, if we belong to Christ, God goes with us and He will lead us by His Spirit and activate our spirits to know how to respond in situations we encounter.  We have to be attuned to how He is directing us.