Photo and Commentary ©2023 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, May 12, 2023
You just never know what’ll happen. This past Saturday night, a person or persons unknown drove a Toyota Corolla into our church parking lot. At 11:30 p.m. one of our neighbors noticed a tall, bright flame from our campus, and immediately called the police. Either the neighbor or the police got hold of the fire department, whose services were definitely needed. Once the fire was out (it did no damage except to the car, and left scorch-marks on a nearby tree), the police took down whatever info they needed and departed.
At some point Sunday morning one of our church members arrived, saw what you see in the photo above, called the police for further info, and called me as well, and I drove to the church.
Whoever destroyed this car did a thorough job. It wasn’t a gas-tank fire (the tank was intact), and it didn’t seem to be merely an engine fire (the engine was destroyed, but so was the entire interior of the car). And if it had been a sudden and unexpected fire, it probably would have happened—as most other such fires do—on the freeway or a street. A disturbing note: our members who looked in the car found three bullets, one un-fired.
All these facts are rather disturbing. As I mentioned, car fires happen all the time, but I’ve never actually seen one. And I’ve certainly never experienced such an act of deliberate sabotage close enough so that I could see it and walk around it.
Disturbing events like this is why it’s so important to fortify ourselves with what the Bible has to say about how to face our fears. You’ll find several comforting verses at the link just below: