Momma Said There'd Be Nights Like This

Okay as most of you know, I am the Pepsi drink machine filler upper at Pace High School. I usually have to fill the machines up late at night at the school because school doesn't get out until 4 and I have some other responsibilities to do before I do the job. Wednesdays are big shipment days, so I usually work past midnight on Wednesday nights after church. My mom has begged me for years telling me that it is creepy up at the school late at night and that weird things happen. From my experience, I would have to agree with her. The janitors are creepy (but nice once you get to know them) and there are many ghostly sounds when you are the only one at the school. By now, I have pretty much gone numb to all of the terror that goes on in an abandoned school at midnight. Or so I thought.....Tonight, a new level of creepiness was achieved.

It had been a long day of school, church, and work and I was making my last round of checkups when I noticed a white car in the back of the school near the 700 building. I'm no Shawn Spencer, but my detective skills starting flickering in my head. Sure enough, the light I had left on in building 700 was no longer on. I was starting to wonder, but I figured I was almost done and that I would fill this last machine up. As I began to unlock the door to building 700, I noticed a black blob hunched over near the boys bathroom. At first, I didn't pay any attention to it (cuz I'm numb to creepiness?No! cuz I was stupid!) but then the black blob stood up and said "oh s@!$" as loud as I have ever heard those two words said before. For some reason, I continued to unlock the door and go inside. It was like those horror movies when the person is about to walk right into the hands of the killer and die and you think to yourself, Don't go there idiot! That's where the killer is!

I don't even turn the lights on, it is just me and this psycho. It turns out the black blob has a pair of car charger cables and a crowbar and he had been trying to bust open the Pepsi machine (and he would have been successful if it wasn't for those kids and their dog, aka ME!) to get change. The dude said "My car just broke down man and I need some change because I don't think I can get back to Pensacola." At this point, I just want to get out of there. I should be thinking, What if this guy has a gun? or Am I going to die? but instead I'm thinking, I can't let this guy ruin the Pepsi machine!

Luckily, my instincts kick in and I say "They emptied the change from this machine today, so there isn't any change in there and I don't have any change on me man, I wish I could help ya." The guy replies," This isn't me man, you know what I mean..." No, I don't know what you mean. It's midnight and you broke into a school to break into a drink machine to get change for who knows what. I said," Yeah I know what ya mean, I wish I could help you, but I don't have my cellphone." The stranger said some expletives and and then started towards the door. He then turned around and went back to the machine and yanked out his tools out of the side of the machine. I slowly unplugged my ipod (Coldplay, how fitting for the occasion ha!) and stood there watching him in disbelief and surveying the damage he had done to the machine. We said our goodbyes and as he left into the dead frigid night, I said, "Best of luck to you man, I'm sorry."

This guy was probably addicted to drugs or alcohol. The stench of his clothes told me as much and it looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks. This man was willing to do a lot to get a few quarters, but what this man really needed was Jesus. How can we get to such a low point and so enslaved to something that we are willing to go this low? I know this man can be delivered, because I have witnessed the power of God in my own life and I know He can transform lives. I was once enslaved to sin, but God made me alive to Himself and now I walk in freedom! I'll probably never see this man again. Will he ever know the hope that is Jesus Christ? Only God knows.

After the man left, I filled the machine up and locked everything up and went home. Tonight was kind of scary, but it was a testimony of God's grace in my life. He showed me mercy in the guy not hurting me. I'm a very blessed man! As it turns out, my mom was right about the school late at night and she is wiser than I ever believed.