Well, its safe to say...I've had an interesting weekend. The high point, or low point depending on perspective happened Saturday night. I was finally on the couch at about 8:45 PM. The beloved couch, an empty house and the Sci-Fi channel. The stuff dreams are made of.
I got a call about 5 minutes into the couch. An elder was at the church late and was interupted by a drunk who was aggressively trying to get in the building. Then his phone went dead. (Which was my cue to presume that he also had bitten the dust.)
Scrambling to get enough clothes on in the 15 degree night, I went to rescue my friend. As I rounded the corner of the building, our intoxicated visitor shrieked when he saw me and huddled in a corner. For a minute.... Then he became excedingly violent and aggressive towards me. He was more than drunk, he had taken several other things as well. Which only made the violence more pronounced. I was able to get away from him, but I was certainly scared. The shape he was in would require us to do a lot of physical damage to him in order to restrain him. And that's never a good thing. At least not for the preacher and one of the elders.
I disappeared around the building, called 911 and came back. I hated to involve the police, but we had no other options at this point. I would have much rather called this kids dad and let him handle it; but we were way out of the comfort zone and way into the danger zone.
After making my call, I returned to find my elder in the grips of our visitor.
Trying to have a rational conversation with drunk people is nearly impossible, thank God the police came quickly. There's a whole lot more to the story. It certainly ended worse than it began. And I dont guess I intend to share all of that. Here's what I'm wondering:
A) Looking back over the incident, there were some similarities between this event and the events in Christ's ministry where he went beyond the obvious problem and into the spirit realm to do His work. Hindsight suggests I should've done something more, spiritually speaking. Yet, common sense says you cant talk with a drunk? What do you think? Spiritual warfare or too much Peretti last week?
B) I guess I'm also wondering how far is far enough for a pastor to go. What I really wanted to do was club this guy in the head and hope he stayed knocked out until the authorities came (the "old man" in me is dying the most drawn out, slow death in the history of those who find new life in Christ). And yet I know as pastor, there is a certain amount of reconcilliation and redemption that I am to model and hold out to others. What do you think?
I know in the Kingdom of Christ, we are not to live or act or wage war as the world does; and yet in this instance, the ways of this world were about the best option. Anyone care to help this make sense?
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