Robert and Frances Belote must be incredible people. When a gunman held them hostage in their home, they turned it into a witnessing opportunity and prayed for him.
Frances Belote, 82, watched as the stranger cut a phone cord and used it to tie her 83-year-old husband's hands behind his back. The couple's lazy Friday afternoon on their quiet dead-end street in Leesburg had shattered, and the Belotes feared that the agitated intruder might be the last person they ever saw.
"I said to myself, 'This is the end. This is it,' " Frances said yesterday. "But God was here. We felt his presence, and it gave us peace, and we were able to be calm."
They spent the next nine hours as hostages, held in their bathroom by a gunman who police said had reached the end of a crime spree....They said Spencer seemed like a good person, deep down, whose life had gone awry, someone who probably never intended to hurt them and simply happened upon their home while seeking a way to escape police.
"I sensed good feelings from him, that he could be a good person," Frances said. "I was praying for him the whole time."...At one point, Spencer appeared with three rings in his palm, rings he took from a box on top of a bedroom dresser. Frances saw that they were her engagement ring, her wedding band and an onyx ring celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary. After Spencer remarked that the rings were pretty, she looked him in the eye and calmly told him that those rings are sacred to her and that he couldn't take them.
"I told him to put them back," she said. "And he did. He put them back in the box."
In a television interview, Mrs. Belote said she ask Spencer if he knew Jesus. He said he had when he was young, but that Jesus had left him. Mrs. Belote told him that Jesus would never leave him, but that he'd left God and could be forgiven.
The stand-off with the SWAT team outside ultimately ended peacefully, in part the police say, because of the Belotes' incredible composure and the rapport they developped with Spencer. Hopefully, they planted a seed the Holy Spirit will bring to fruit in Spencer's life. God's grace is amazing.
That is God shining His light in the darkness, and the darkness not overcoming it.
It reminds me of Paul witnessing to his captors.
Praise the Lord for Christians living like they are redeemed.
Posted by: Sage S | July 18, 2009 at 10:43 PM
I've always wondered if I were put in a situation like this one, would I be able to do the same thing or would I just lose it and freak out ya know. It's just amazing to me and very very uplifting! Amen!
Posted by: Prince | July 20, 2009 at 05:35 AM
Beautiful! What Godly courage and wisdom this couple showed. I pray that I would act as they did, and not let anger overtake me if I were in this situation.
Posted by: Beth | July 20, 2009 at 09:15 AM