A time as this

April had her baby yesterday. April is a radio newscaster in Denver and so the arrival of her firstborn brought lots of comments from her fellow broadcasters. But this time those comments were a little different.

“God bless,” said the sports guy. “Best wishes to April and son,” said the weatherman. “Be praying for them.”

It looks like Jeanne Assam brought God to Colorado yesterday. (Here’s a link to her news conference.)

On Sunday, Colorado was rocked by a gunman who first walked into the Youth With a Mission headquarters in Arvada to kill two missionaries there. He then traveled about an hour south to Colorado Springs where he apparently planned a major assault on New Life Church during the Sunday morning worship time.

Matthew Murray carried two handguns, an assault rifle, and over 1000 rounds of ammunition into the east entrance of New Life Church.

There he met Jeanne Assam, a member of New Life Church and a trained and armed security officer. “I knew I had been given the assignment to end this before it got too much worse,” Assam said.

It was a David and Goliath situation. “God was with me,” Jeanne said calmly at a press conference yesterday. “This has got to be God because of the firepower he (Murray) had versus what I had... I did not run away and I did not think for a minute to run away.”

Jeanne was in the last day of a three-day fast, weak from an intense time seeking God’s direction, when she faced Murray. “I was weak and where I was weak he made me strong. He protected me and many other people. I’m honored that God chose me.”

Journalists reported her words: “God was with me and I asked him to be with me and he never left my side.”

For the moment, it’s somewhat fashionable in Colorado to honor God’s name. Where many like to link God to fearful legalists, they had to face a woman of courage who saved countless lives by trusting in God’s presence to protect her.

Haman once told his beautiful niece Esther: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." (Esth 4:14)

Jeanne Assam may have been raised up for just a time as this.