Article June 22, 2009 Issue

HE POINTED HIS GUN AT ME

BY THOMAS MITCHINSON

I'd known the man from a past encounter. The night he called, he asked if I could take him to my Christian Science practitioner office. He said he needed to talk.

When we met, he looked agitated, upset, and afraid. He explained that he was in trouble and talked nonstop all the way to the office. The office building was closed, but we made our way through the first-floor restaurant doors and up to my office on the third floor. No one else was on the floor that night.

He sat down, and when I did the same, he pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at me. He said, "Are you afraid?" Frankly, I was. But I told him that God's love for me and for him was much stronger than any fear he or I might be feeling.