You just know it when He answers every prayer and gives you grace in the eyes of men and He puts a colorful garment over you and fills your life with dreams and visions that cause some of your brothers dislike of you.

Recently I was in a concrete jungle in the city of Lima where almost eight million people live. After four hours in the office of a busy cardiologist with Benjie who has a “heart condition”, we ventured out onto a dark street looking for a taxi.

While making comments about the “gloomy” doctor’s report, Benjie, Ruthie, Judith and I walked two blocks like four “Wildebeests” towards a corner where a pack “of lions” were waiting for their prey. The taxis were few and far in between.

All of a sudden we all realized that we had wondered away from safety and all of us saw and smelled the “pestilence of death” around us. Six men started to make their threatening move toward us. In that very instant a small taxi stopped and Ruthie and Benjie quickly entered and left to go to their next appointment.

Relieved that Ruthie and Benjie were away from harm, Judith and I saw our situation worsening by the second and started to walk away in the opposite direction as these “Bulls of Basham” who like wolves widened their circle and moved toward us. We had no place to go nor speed to run. The leader of the “predators” was now ten feet from me. I said to Judith “get behind me.” I searched the ground for some stone instinctively and low and behold at my feet (thy rod and staff, they comfort me) in the last second, there was a hard stick the exact size of a baseball bat which I quickly picked up and was in position to swing with both hands. My attacker was just about four feet from me and stopped.

In that very instant a small taxi stopped seven feet from us. Judith as scared as she was flagged down the taxi and jumped in the back seat and I jumped in the front and quickly clicked the safety button of the taxi which drove away very fast. A spray of verses began to flood my mind and heart.

“He will cover you with his feathers and under His wings you will find refuge”. The small taxi and its fragile windows never felt so secure as would an “armored car”.

The young taxi driver with a small sticker on His windshield that said “Taxi” was an angel of God.

“If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord who is my refuge then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near you tend (my skin). For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways”.

But as much as I was full of gratitude in my heart, I was wounded in what is left of my pride. I who packed five life times in one. I who took the fast pace of life. I who never knew hospital beds and never backed off from confrontation. I was not only becoming a “regular” with medical doctors but now I did not only blink but was eager to run with my figurative tail between my figurative legs and was no longer fast enough to even run.

My feelings were “numbed” though I preached on Sunday back in the Andes. I was definitely a “lame duck.” You may ask: Why? “Nothing happen to you”, yes. But you see, I have a “private heresy” of believing that even though I don’t have blue eyes, “I am God's blue eyed boy”, therefore I think: “How dare these things happening to me”. I am the servant of the Most High. How dare they mess around with me. (A Texan in my own eyes I guess).

So, like my dog “hummingbird” who after being hit by a car he was chasing went under the bench and licked his wounds and just stayed there for several days.

I too was for seven days “under the figurative bench”. But early on the seventh day I asked the Lord to talk to me. So I went back to where I was reading the day when my song bird's wings where broken and found my self reading the Oswald Chambers “My Utmost for His Highest” corresponding to the day when I was attacked on May 19, 2010, The reading could not have been more designed for me and my experience. Because in it, the 91 Psalm was the heart of the meditation. (God's protection is not from danger but in the midst of danger).

I was instantly lifted up as God Himself “spoke to my heart.” I humbly but boldly urge you to visit this Psalm afresh to get more juice for your thirst of God’s faithfulness to His servants.

Some may say: "Watch Gutierrez with your theology!!" I will plead guilty only for taking the determination to be “like a child” and still giggle even under rebuke.

To put icing on the “cake” it is 4:00 am and in few hours I am meeting with my Saturday men’s breakfast with the leaders of the City. I will report on the answer to their prayer and yours on behalf of my son Nathaniel's "brain-scan".

• To the Praise of our loving Lord: “There is no brain tumor in Nathaniel's head but sleep apnea”.
• That after 10 years of hard work and studies, Nathaniel has completed his College and Seminary studies and has graduated and will now pursue Ordination.
• That our Lord has given him green light through M.T.W. to come to Peru as a missionary and to take the flag from our hands.
• That Keila has found a job in the University of Delaware and she is also involved in an outreach to International students.
• That Caleb has only one more semester left of College.
• That Kelly was able to keep her teaching job in spite of cuts in the school.
• Our health is stable at this time. So is the health of the ministry.
• As soon as Nathaniel gets here, I will enter full force to the Radio ministry. Please pray for it and for help for Nathaniel and Alicia to come quickly to help us.

Gerry Gutierrez (and Ruthie)
Casilla # 1 Huanta-Peru.
Phone: 011-516-632-2169