I have some great friends in my neighborhood. They love me and I love them! We decided it was time to get away together and make some memories. Rachel booked us a hotel at the Trump Tower, and we piled into her car and drove south for 6 hours.
We shopped, we played. But I also took them on a little tour of the part of Las Vegas I grew up in. I dodn't grow up in Henderson, NV. Nope! Vegas. Downtown Las Vegas. My home was about a 5-7 minute drive to the strip. The Stratasphere is at the end of my road, St Louis Ave. I showed them my home, my school, where our seminary building was. And I showed then a spot that was sacred to me. We all have our Holy Places. Mine happens to be on Eastern Ave., between Sahara and St Louis Ave.
We drove to the spot and I told them of how my sister and I witnessed a friend of ours being protected from a group of girls whose intent was to hurt her. 3 girls vs 1 girl, all because her shirt was red (gang affiliation colors were a real thing in the 90s). We watched, terrified, as these girls picked up large landscaped rocks and started to trow them at our friend, Julie. We also watched as each rock neared her, they would take a sudden sharp turn, missing her completely. Each rock should have it her. These girls were close to her. She beacame Samuel the Laminite that day- rocksa instead of arrows. This allowed our friend to make it into a building on the corner. By the time my sister and I reached the building, our church leader came driving by. We flagged her down, got Julie, and then jumped in her car.
I called my sister a few months ago to see if I was remebering right, and not imagining. She conformed she saw what I saw.
God can appear in unlikely places. Vegas isn't equated with words like holy or sacred. He was there that day. He was there because 3 girls needed Him. And 25+years later, those same 3 girls can witness that He can, and will, be there when you need Him most. Even in the most inconceivable places.
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