I was 22 years old, eager and ready to find out what life had in store for me. I had recently formed a relationship with God, accepting that His son, Jesus, died for me. Life was fresh, clear, and guiltless for the first time in my life. I was high on life and nothing could shake that. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (II Corinthians 5:17) was my calling card, so to speak. This is still my "calling card" but life has had it's trials so therefore I feel I am more seasoned and sadly not as eager.
I was working at a Day-N-Nite store as a cashier/clerk in Hampton, AR. My shift was from 11 pm to 7 am. In retrospect, not a good shift for a young girl. Well, I said I was eager not wise. We had one night shift cop on duty but sadly to say he would cut out about 2 am and the dispatcher was supposed to call him if needed. He parked in the parking lot facing the store so I always knew when I was on my own. When you come from a smaller town you basically trust most situations, or at least you don't expect possible danger around the corner.
At approximately 2:10 a.m. a young man came in the store (he was 19 years old) looked around and acted suspicious. I though he was stealing, so I geared up to face him down like I had to do when I caught them stealing in the past. I would say, "I saw you, now put it back!" Funny thing, they always did. This was 26 years ago, though. I asked him if he needed help and he said no and left. Hmmm...
Thirty minutes later, four armed guys (all in their 20's) came bursting in the store one carrying a sawed off shotgun and the leader carried a pistol. I'm not sure if there were any other guns. The leader put the pistol to my head and made me go into the bathroom and lay on the floor. Yes, as much as I don't even like the memory let alone saying it. The intention (that was as far as it went) was the r word. Blah. Out loud I said "Please God help me" and the guy said "Shut UP! So I just started saying the name Jesus over and over with my eyes closed. "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" All of a sudden one of the other guys pounded on the door and told him, "we need you out here, can't get the register open." He cussed, went out of the bathroom and had another guy guard the door from the outside. He left the door open about 2 inches wide and I saw the guy's silhouette within the door opening. There was yelling going on outside the door but it was backround noise to me, "Grab all the cigarettes! Come on, let's go! etc" My attention was captured by the absence of the "door guard's" silhoutte within the 2 inch door opening. Actually I remember seeing the back of his head, and in one split second he moved and the door looked clear. I gave no deep thought to what to do, I just acted on whatever came to me. I also recieved such a calmness within my soul. It felt like there was a steel wall in front of me guarding me, but I knew I had to get out of there fast. So, I jumped up and pulled the door shut and locked it, locking myself in this one toliet bathroom. Now what? I looked up and saw that the ceiling was the 2' x 2' tile/grid sytem (drop ceiling.) I jumped up on the toilet seat, stepped up to the top of the tank, then reaching the grid, pushed up a tile and started to pull myself up into the ceiling. Right then they banged on the door and screamed at me to tell them how to open the register. I told them the exact sequence and had to repeat it several times; all the while I was standing on top of the toilet aiming myself toward that ceiling. They left the door to try the sequence, yelling at each other, "come on get that blank open!" Those details all meshed together in my mind. When it sounded like they were all involved in that again...up I went. I was 120 lbs. You say that wouldn't hold a person...so I Googled it and here is what I found on there (you would be right):
I would expect 100-120 pounds to be too much for almost all installations. 20-30 pounds is easily possible on almost all if supported over several feet of the rail and not just hung from one or two of the grid clamps sold for the purpose of putting up signs or displays.(Google online 2012.)So after I pulled myself up into the drop ceiling a few feet from the edge (I did balance on the metal grid at least), I laid down and pulled the pink itchy insulation over me in hopes that if they tried to come up after me maybe they wouldn't see me. I laid there, heard them finding me gone, screaming
that they were going to shoot up into the celing with the sawed off shotgun unless I came down. (Uh, yeah...right. I'll be right down!) I did lift my head and in a panic I almost tried to scamper around to find out how to get out of the bulding. My heart was racing. But the calmness enveloped me once again; I thought I better stay still. I heard them decide they better cut out seeing that their threats were not going to make me come down. I think they even thought I was gone. So they left, taking the whole cash register with them, and lots of cigarettes.
I didn't trust that they were gone, I kind of thought they were trying to trick me, so I laid there trying not to breathe very loud. This was all over by maybe 3:30 am, but I was going to stay up there until someone came to the door. I did lift up one of the panels so that I could see if anyone came in. Finally at 7 a.m. a man came in the store and I lifted up the panel and said, "Help, I've been robbed" He looked around a few times, and I repeated, "Help, I've been robbed!" He thought the pinball machines were making noise, but when I pushed my head through the ceiling further, he "got" it.
The rest was a blur, I don't know how I got down. I think the guy helped me after he called the cops.
I remember I had to wait for the investigators to come and question me. They asked me if I knew the guys who robbed the store, and I was dumbfounded! What? By then I wasn't calm, I was numb. So I just answered and went through whatever motions were needed. They told me to put rubbing alcohol on my arms to help remove the fiberglass and I refused because I was not itchy, it never made me itchy...
The robbers also stole my bible that I carried with me, it was in a zippered case. With my car keys. It's really neat, the cops searched for my bible and case. They actually found it a week later and I still have that one ( I use a different one) in my "stuff."
Another neat tidbit that came from this is about a month later I was at home and one of the Calhoun County police officers came to my door and they asked me if I would like a job at the Sheriff's Office as a dispatcher. I was out of a job, collecting unemployment. For some reason when I was asked if I would like to stay working at the Day-n-Nite I just couldn't see myself going back to that job...(Sarcasm sign.) Anyway I took the job at the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office were I felt safe, and
kept that job for a little over a year before I moved back home. It was a great experience (the job, not the rob!)
The four robbers were caught, got something like 20 yrs and the lookout kid got 5 years (this part is all fuzzy) I know after 6 months the grandmother (she was a wonderful lady) and the church asked me to write a letter to help him get on early parole since he was not in on the robbery. But I just couldn't. It's not that I didn't forgive him, I just thought even if you played a part in a crime that could have left someone dead, then you have consequences to pay. At least I felt that the law should hand out any mercy that they felt fitting. I realize this is not always the case, but I just couldn't help.
A few years later that same store was robbed at gunpoint. The man that was the clerk was shot and killed.
So my Epiphany within this story is how I learned that overall God is clearly with me and if I listen to that still small voice inside, he will guide me. If I don't panic, I can hear His voice ready to guide me. As long as I keep myself from being clogged up from stress, anger, anyhing that overloads a person, I can rest assured that whatever comes, He will make a way out of it. No, you can't make life into a fairytale. But He can give us direction and what we need to survive. Sometimes overcoming and sometimes under duress.
Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. Matthew 10:34 (NKJV)
