Only God

Our dear friend José Xol (pictured above in the white worshiping with the Daytona team) was on his way to one of the villages where he has been ministering Monday afternoon when a 9 year old boy ran out from behind a stopped microbus (taxi) and in front of José's car. José slammed on his brakes but he couldn't stop. Evidently the mother was distracted while paying the micro driver. José loaded the kid up in his car to rush him to a hospital (1.5hr away), but the boy died on the way there so they turned around. By the time they got back to the village a large mob had formed ready to burn José alive. This is very typical in these rural indigenous areas where the mob rules. They take their own "justice" very quickly. If there had been police there, there would have been nothing they could have done to protect José.

Monday while all this was going on José called Jimmy weeping, saying that he had killed a boy and asking him to pray. Jimmy asked José if the people were going to kill him and he said, "Only God knows."

When Jimmy spoke to José yesterday he was still weeping. Through his tears he said, "Only God could have saved me." More than fearing for his life, José is completely broken over hitting this child. I don't know how you recover from something like this. Even though it wasn't his fault there will not be a day in his life when he does not think about this family whose lives were changed forever as a result of where he was at that moment in time.

There is no one we know, gringo or Guatemalan, with a bigger passion for the lost. José is a modern day Paul to the Kekchi. I don't understand why this happened... especially to José. Please... please lift up José and this family who lost their son in prayer. Only God can work in a situation like this.

There is much more to this story. The family is demanding $6,300 for José's life. He has 15 days to pay it. This type of extortion is completely legal in Petén. You can read more about this part of the story on Jimmy's blog here.

That night José was supposed to return to the village of Esquipulas for another service. There was a man who said he was ready to accept Christ. I think this is just more evidence of the strongholds Satan has in these unreached villages. He doesn't want the Gospel there.

We will keep everyone updated on this situation. We have already seen God working through this. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!