This is my son Joel’s story so I’ll let him start by telling what happened.
From Joel (the son)
When I was ten years old a villain entered my life. Her family started coming to the church where dad was pastor.
She was bigger than me and loved to bully me. At an after-church social event she and two of her amazon-girl friends pinned me against a wall. They held my arms while she slapped my face over and over.
I warned her twice but she didn’t stop.
In a surge of fury I broke loose from the two amazons and punched her in the face. She dropped to her knees. Her friends ran away.
You know that my-life-is-over feeling? I had it.
I stood there thinking What have I done? Dad is going to kill me.
A crowd began to gather. The girl’s dad stormed up to my dad and demanded, “What are you going to do about this?!”
Half the church stood speechless. I knew it was going to get ugly for me.
What happened next is an example of why my father is an extraordinary man.
He calmly asked me what happened. With tears in my eyes I told him.
He nodded, patted my shoulder and said, “Sounds like she had it coming.”
