Whispering The Gospel And Dodging Bullets (Part 1)
It was 1993. I was a member of the Security Forces in the U.S. Air Force stationed at Howard AFB, Panama. I was part of the Cobra Team, a small group that would go out on patrol in the jungle – almost exclusively at night – to intercept the never-ending stream of Panamanians trying to sneak on base and steal anything that wasn’t nailed down--lawnmowers, clothes dryers, aircraft parts, you name it; anything they might be able to use or sell.
One day our team received word that one of the more notorious families of locals who practically made their living running from us was getting rather perturbed by our success in catching and jailing them. They threatened to bring guns that night. This wasn’t the norm, because the locals knew that if they weren’t armed, it was unlikely we would shoot at them. But this night was different.
I was paired with a guy I’ll call Joe. We sneaked quietly through the thick, dark, and humid jungle and found a nice ditch where we could observe a road near our assigned area of responsibility. We were lightly armed with only our M9 Beretta 9mm pistols. Joe had a set of night vision goggles that allowed him to see in the pitch black and I had a radio. As was the norm in those days, neither of us wore any sort of protective body armor.
Joe was an interesting guy. He was friendly, easy to work with, and was good at his job but not arrogant. I had seen him wearing Christian T-shirts off-duty and assumed he was a fellow believer. I was recently saved and was always on the lookout for another brother. But in talking with him, Joe informed me he wasn’t a Christian. He only wore the T-shirts because his sister sent them to him. So, as we were lying in the ditch that night, I whispered the truth of the gospel to him the best I could as we waited and watched.
Exciting things were about to happen.
– Eric Hentnik
