The bold faith of a young Ohio man invoked a miracle that turned what could have been a deadly encounter into an amazing display of God’s power.
Shaquille Hairston was walking home from his bus stop after work when one of his fellow former passengers gave him a rude awakening. Following instructions from the man to turn around, Hairston was confronted with a gun and a threat: Give me your money, or else.
Hairston told the robber that he didn’t have much money, but his assailant didn’t abate, hitting the 21-year old pre-med student over the head with the gun. Fearing for his life, Hairston complied with the man’s threat.
“He raised the gun up and he was like ‘I’ll shoot you. I’m not playing with you, man,'” Hairston recounted to Cleveland’s Fox 8 News.
As he handed over his wallet and cell phone, Hairston began praying aloud, not only for his own current plight, but also for his attacker.
“Even if that was gonna be my last night living, I wanted to go out knowing that God was with me and I had God on my mind and if I did go, I would be with Him when I wake up on the other side,” Hairston reasoned.
While praying, he started to converse with the man, who had by that point grown confused and flustered by the curious turn of events. Almost apologetically, the robber told Hairston that it was his first robbery, trying to justify his actions by saying that he had only resorted to this because he was unemployed.
“I’m just trying to make it out here like you,” Hairston countered before inviting the man to his church and offering to help him get back on his feet.
Apparently convicted of what he was doing and amazed by Hairston’s bold cheek-turning in the face of one who intended him harm, the robber apologized and handed back the wallet and phone.
“I’m so sorry for this,” Hairston recalls the man saying. “You were the wrong type of person to do this to.”
“He said, ‘Man, you’re really blessed,’ and I said, ‘No, you’re blessed.’ And I said, ‘I’ll be praying for you and your family,’ and then he was like ‘OK’ and he shook my hand and he went about his way.”
Though police are still searching for the would-be robber, Hairston says he has forgiven the man and is still praying for a breakthrough in his life.
“My concern has been on him, and that God will touch his heart and tender his heart so he won’t even feel that he has to do that,” Hairston said.
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