[Editor's Note: This story comes from a member of First Christian Church in Des Moines, IA. It was shared through the "Come Sample Simply Stories" event on March 20, 2010. Look for more stories from that event to show up on our Shared Spirit page -- and, please submit your own stories]

Author: Terri Holmgren, windyhillt@aol.com
In December, just a few days before Christmas, an 84 year old man from our church was a victim of an attempted carjacking.  He was knocked down, from behind, on his way out of a local grocery store.  He refused to get in the car with the attacker.  His attacker drove off, went a couple of miles, pulled over, and shot himself in the chest, committing suicide.

The attacker was 37 years old and left a wife and a couple of small children.  Our church member immediately opened up a fund to help his attacker’s family.  Less than a week later, he was in church, making a request for our members to help fill the fund for this man’s family.  He started the fund with $500.00 out of his own pocket.  That is a lot of money fro someone who is 84 years old.  Our fund resulted in nearly $6000 for his family.

Our church member said, “I feel sorry for him. He must have had reasons for going through all of this. My line of thought is that he probably was a decent person and he needed some money, fast.”

This man is a perfect example of our church’s ministry philosophy.  If someone needs help and we can help them, we do.  We endeavor to find a way to love them the way Jesus told us to.