Living what I thought was a fairly unsheltered life, I experienced an event that quickly made me change my mind. Before this event took place, I had always considered myself as being unsheltered because I knew how the world of today was, but little did I realize, in reality, I am considered sheltered compared to many people. When the event took place, I could not grasps was what actually happening around me. Because I could not believe what was happening and was almost in denial, I realized that I knew the corruption of today’s world, but I was not aware of how close this corruption was to me. This realization came to me in the Wendy’s drive through.
 

After a long day of swimming with my younger cousins, Bella and Charlotte, my aunt came to pick them up. When my aunt picked them up, I decided to go home with them. On the way home, my cousins were complaining that they were starving and could hear their stomachs growling, so we decided to stop at Wendy's by EJGH. Pulling up to Wendy’s, I could see  the drive through line was very and long wrapped around the building, so I suggested that we go inside and order. My aunt thought about it for a quick second, but through the look on her worn out face, I could tell she did not want to get out of the car. When I saw how sunken in and exhausted her eyes looked, I offered to go inside and get the food while they wait in the car, but my aunt did not want to make me do that. We ended up going through the drive through. Before we were next up to the window, my aunt was helped the girls to figure out what they wanted to eat. My little cousin, Charlotte, saw the picture of the chocolate Frosty on the menu with its perfectly shaped tip and immediately pointed to it saying that she wanted one. After my aunt was done ordering, we pulled up and waited to get to the window. As we got closer to the window, we could smell the drift of french fries and chicken nuggets, but the sweet smell of food in a time of hunger turned to fear when there was a knock on my window. As we were waiting, a man came up to my side of the car and began to knock on the window. From the inside of the car, the knock sounded like the man was beating on the car with a brick. The man, in a panicked state, was out of breath breathing heavily and asking if we saw a man run past our car. We told the man we had not, and he rushed away going on to the next car. A state of confusion began to pass over my aunt and me, and all of the sudden, we heard the ringing of police sirens. Several seconds after we heard the sirens, policemen started to come out from all directions. Several policemen came running on foot from behind us, and others came up the street in their cars. I started to get worried and a knot grew in my stomach. The woman at the drive through handed my aunt Charlotte's Frosty that was then passed to me, and then, I heard “Oh my God, He has a gun!” At that moment, I looked at my aunt, and I felt like my heart stopped. When I thought the situation could not get any worse, I heard a gunshot go off, and the lady at the drive through threw our food from the window into our car while screaming, “Get down!” My whole body became as cold as my hand holding the Frosty, and my heart began to beat out of my chest. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got down only to realize that both of my cousins were in car seats and could not get down. My aunt and I began to panic; I attempted to jump in the back to undo them, but I was so nervous that my hands felt as if they were numb. Failing in attempting to get my cousins out of the car seats, I began to scream to my aunt to drive away. My aunt put the car in drive only to realize that police cars were blocking the exit. With both of my cousin crying with a terrified look on their faces, I could not think of anything else to do besides scream “ Just hit the car and go just hit the car and go.” My aunt saw that there was just enough space to pass through, and on our way out, we heard the drive through lady say the man had killed himself and injured one other. With silence surrounding us for the next ten minutes home, I could not comprehend what had just happened. Later that day, we learned that before man killed himself, he went to an old doctor and demanded a prescription for drugs. When the doctor refused, the man shot and killed the doctor, and then ran to Wendy’s. I had never been so scared and felt so helpless in my life. The thought that I almost went inside kept running through my mind for the next several days. If I would have went inside, I would have seen the man kill himself and could have been hurt as well.

By the grace of God, I witnessed this event from the drive through window and was spared witnessing the event from inside. This event showed me God’s presence in my life because I truly believe that God directed my Aunt to go through the drive through because He was trying to protect me. This event helped my faith in God grow stronger because God saved my life. I often think of this event today when I am struggling with my faith because I am reminded that even though I may not see Him, God is watching out for me. I believe this event helped to shape me to become more aware of my surroundings and to realize that sometimes I will be put into situations that I cannot do anything about. Thinking about this event today, brings me back to that day and makes me thankful for all that God does for me, especially watching over me each day.