Deliver Us Form Evil

"Doorbusters," Literally

The unthinkable has happened. AWal-mart employee, a maintenance worker hired from a temporary agency, was trampled to death by a stampede as a crowd of 2,000 customers broke the door and rushed into the Wal-mart at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York when the store opened at 5 a.m. yesterday. Customers waited in line in the pre-dawn hours for the likes of a 50 inch plasma hdtv for $798, a compact upright vacuum cleaner for $28, and a 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69. Four other persons, including a 28 year old pregnant woman, were taken to the hospital. Hours later, at a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, California, two men took out guns and shot and killed each other after the two women they were with broke out into a brawl near the cash registers. This incident is reportedly not related to black Friday sales.

Have you ever been pressed in a crowd? I have. I didn't feel that I was in any danger, but my friends thought I was, and they pulled me to safety. It was 23 years ago this weekend. I was pregnant with Glen Jr., about 6 weeks away from my due date. We were living in Southampton on Long Island, NY. I had ventured into New York City with two friends to see the tree lighting at Macy's. We waited a long time to see the tree lit, quietly chatting and enjoying the ice skating. We could see the tree. Minutes before the tree was to be lit, people started pressing in from behind us. They were not able to see the tree from where they were standing. My friends saw a way out for me. I didn't want to cause us to miss seeing the tree lighting, but there was no arguing with them. The crowd was not angry, just beginning to press in. But my friends could see the potential for harm to come to my precious unborn child. When the crowd began to press in, my friends thought quickly and led me out of the crowd while there was a way of escape. Thank you, Patti and Marsha!

Friends, God promises us a way of escape! There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. I Cor. 10:13

Jesus taught his followers to pray, "Deliver us from evil," and "Thy will be done." The apostle Paul recognized that this present world is evil. In his greeting to the Galatian Christians, he spoke of grace and peace, which come from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for my sins, that He might deliver me from this present evil world, according to God's will.

When darkness crowds our day, we find our steadfast confidence in God's Word. This is the victory -- that Jesus gave himself that he might deliver us from this present evil world.

Will you pray with me that God will comfort the families of the men who died in these incidents? Pray with me that even through tragedy, people will be drawn to Him.

Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Gal. 1:3-5