The Stoning of Shane (Acts Chapter 7)

My last post reminded me of my time in Saudi Arabia. I was part of a team of seven or eight soldiers whose task was to install television and radio transmitters throughout the northern part of the country and to maintain the broadcast studio near KKMC.

We had a little bit of down time each week during which we typically hung out in a common area, ordered some nasty Saudi Arabian pizza (which was fixed like a regular pie, it even had the criss-crossed dough on top) and watched some Rosanne re-runs (or a re-broadcast sporting event). We were an odd group of guys--we were a multi-service unit (Marines, Navy, Air Force and Army) as well as a mixed group of regular duty and reserve soldiers. The reservists attached to our unit were from a single unit near Atlanta, GA. The rest of the guys were from units all over the world--a couple soldiers from Germany, one from Japan, one from Korea, and quite a few from different duty stations all over the United States. Very few of us had worked together before, so down times were very interesting to me, as it gave us all a chance to try to get to know each other.

One of the guys in our unit was a vocal Christian. He was a courier, mostly because nobody wanted to work with him--all he ever talked about was God. He carried his Bible constantly, and if he was sitting still he had it open in his lap, reading. Every time I talked to him he would ask me why I had strayed from the Path. He knew that I had been raised in the Church, but was not actively pursuing or practicing my faith.

I vividly remember one night that a group of us was sitting in a common room in Dharan (it was in Khobar Towers, a housing complex that was famously bombed a few weeks later). Shane (the Christian) was sitting on the floor, watching TV (for once not reading his Bible). We were all eating mini candy bars from a bag that one of the guys had shipped to him from someone in the States. Everyone was joking around, light heartedly making fun of each other, when the banter finally became centered around Shane. As people heaped insults on him he stared straight ahead, focusing on the TV. The joking became more and more cruel as he continued to ignore the people that were taunting him. Finally, a couple guys started throwing candy wrappers at Shane, hitting him in the back of the head repeatedly. I expected Shane to explode. Shane was not a little guy. He was in top physical condition. If he wanted to, he could have flattened quite a few of the guys that were pestering him, without breaking a sweat. Instead, he continued to watch the television. I could not believe his patience. Here I was, witnessing a "stoning", and this guy did not lift a hand to defend himself.

Shane had power at hand, but refused to use it. Instead he turned the other cheek. I don't know that he said a prayer for the people throwing things at him, and I do know that he didn't make an eloquent speech like the one Stephen made in Acts chapter 7 when he was about to be stoned by an angry mob, but Shane's witness was still very strong. I knew what he had to be going through that night, and it deeply affected me. It was the start of my path back to God. I don't know what effect his actions had on the other guys there that night, but his actions changed my life.

I pray that I have the courage to stand up in the face of ridicule and be a strong witness for God. I pray that I am never again silent while another Christian is persecuted for his/her beliefs.