Last night I was volunteering in Juvenile Hall in downtown San Jose as I do every Tuesday night. I had three kids in the bible study and for some reason decided to do a bible study about Acts 16:16-40. For those of you who may not know this story it is an account of the apostle Paul and his traveling companion Silas who were arrested when their missionary activities pissed off the wrong rich person. They were beaten and thrown into the deepest part of the jail where they were put in stocks. They spent the night singing and praising God and in the middle of the night an earthquake came and opened all the doors and chains, but Paul, Silas and the other prisoners did not leave. I was using this to illustrate that as much as these prisoners wanted freedom (which this guys could relate to) the faith that they saw in Paul and Silas was more attractive.

I was just wrapping up the bible study as the largest earthquake in the last 18 years hit our area. Since the oldest kid turned 18 yesterday this was certainly the largest in their memory. At least one of the kids asked if God had sent the earthquake because he was not paying attention. I told him I thought that was very unlikely but did wonder why I had decided to talk about that verse.

Oh yes, the doors for juvenile hall did not come open. The guys checked. Instead they locked up with a “hold in place” order and I had to wait for 30 minutes before I could leave and call my wife.