Champion by Craig Johnson

Author:Craig Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2018-02-28T05:00:00+00:00

One day I received a call from a pastor friend of mine in San Antonio, Pastor Henry, who asked if I would come and help them start a Champions Club for special needs at their church. I said we would be honored to. At the end of the conversation, Pastor Henry asked if I would go with him to visit one of their orphanages in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, a couple of hours’ drive from San Antonio.

I could tell he wanted me to see all the good work they were doing, but I was hesitant because there had been so much violence from drug cartels in the border towns of Texas and Mexico. He assured me it was safe as long as we were with him. I trusted Pastor Henry, but when I checked out what the Department of State website had to say about this part of Mexico, I also saw statements like “extreme caution,” “critical threat,” and warnings about travel “except for those instances that have been deemed mission essential.” I had to pause. When I read those words again, I felt God say in my spirit, I will protect you. I’m deeming this mission essential. A peace came over me, so I told Pastor Henry I would go.

We finished some speaking and training at Pastor Henry’s church in San Antonio, and then we set out for Nuevo Laredo. As we got closer to the border, we got off the freeway and pulled into a hotel parking lot. Due to the danger, someone from Nuevo Laredo had come to drive us over the border. I saw those words extreme caution and critical threat scroll across my mind in red flashing letters, and I started praying every prayer I could think of—from dinner prayers and bedtime prayers to “I don’t want to die today” prayers. Then I thought, If we get chased by a drug cartel, and I’m going to die, wouldn’t it be cool if we did it Thelma and Louise style? Just hit the gas, and fly off into a canyon. Sure beats being tortured and beheaded like the cartels are doing to people. These were some of the crazy thoughts crossing my mind at the time. I prayed hard. Really hard!

We got to the border and then turned onto back streets to get around the traffic. I kept my eyes on the surroundings, half expecting a van to skid out in front of us and kidnappers to pull out the only gringo in the SUV. Pastor Henry, Pastor Gill, and the driver were speaking in Spanish like it was no big deal. I think they were staying calm to keep me calm. They were probably saying in Spanish, “Look at the crazy gringo about to cry in the back seat.”

We kept going down one street and up another. Pastor Henry said to me, “A year ago you couldn’t even drive in the early evening like this.” He wasn’t exactly reassuring me. We finally pulled up to two apartment-style buildings with chipped paint and big gates in front.

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