Twelve-year-old Peter and I boarded the first-class bus at 6:30 P.M. As we settled in for the three-hour ride to Mexico City, little did we know that we were about to embark on one of the most traumatic experiences of our lives-but also one which would show us how wonderfully the Lord takes care of His own.

About an hour into our trip, I noticed that a man had left his seat and sat down next to the bus driver. Immediately I had a premonition that something awful was about to happen.

"We'd better pray," I whispered to Peter. "For some reason I feel we're in for trouble!"

We prayed together, claiming the Lord's divine protection and asking Him to keep us from all evil.

By this time it was getting dark and almost everyone on the bus was napping. The bus began to slow down, and then pulled over to the side of the road. A few minutes later two men got on the bus. The driver closed the doors and continued driving.

Again, I had a premonition that seemed to come from deep within my being.

"It's going to happen now!" I whispered to Peter.

All of a sudden a man yelled out, "Raise your hands and close your eyes!" This was the beginning of a nightmare that would last for the next 45 minutes.

Peter and I were the first to be checked. Click! I felt the cold muzzle of a gun, cocked and pressed against my head. I was ordered to move to the left, then to the right, as one of the bandits hastily checked my back pants pockets. The gun pressed tightly to my temple, then to my stomach, as he checked my neck for jewelry or a money pouch, then my shirt pockets.

Feeling around in one of my shirt pockets, the man found what I knew to be a small stack of Somebody Loves You tracts that I had planned to give to people we met on our trip. I dared to open my eyes to see his reaction.

"What's this?" he yelled.

"Those are Christian pamphlets," I told him.

Click! I felt the cold muzzle of a gun, cocked and pressed against my head. I was ordered to move to the left, then to the right, as one of the bandits hastily checked my back pants pockets.

Immediately, he stopped checking me and moved on to check Peter.

Racing through my mind were Scripture after Scripture of the Lord's promises of protection. Psalm 91, a chapter I'd memorized years earlier, came flooding into my mind. "You shall not be afraid of the terror by night. ... Because you have made the Lord, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you ... for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways." Those promises gave me remarkable peace of mind.

I wondered if anyone would get hurt. I prayed for Peter and all the other people on the bus, then for the safety of the fairly large sum of money I was carrying in one of my front pockets, which the bandit hadn't found.

Behind me I overheard an argument between the robbers and a passenger. They were threatening to take him off the bus and shoot him if he didn't shut up and cooperate. The bus driver was so nervous that he almost crashed into an oncoming bus.

Then another robber came to check us again. Our bags, which were under our seats, had been overlooked in the first check. He found them this time. There was a Walkman, some tapes and Peter's wallet in one, and my camera in the other.

Finding these bags that had been missed the first time so infuriated the robber that he began angrily scolding Peter and put a gun to his head.

He checked under our seat for what seemed like 15 minutes. My heart was beating wildly. I continued to pray desperately for our protection.

Finally I felt the bus slow down and come to a stop. The robbers got off the bus. Our nightmare was over!

Peter and I began joyously praising the Lord for His protection. Not only had the Lord kept anyone from getting hurt, but also the thieves had never checked one of my pants pockets-the one containing most of our money. Then I remembered what they had found.

"I'm sorry about your Walkman, tapes and wallet," I told Peter.

But then, looking up, I saw the strap of my bag in the baggage compartment above our seats. To our delight, there we found the Walkman, tapes, and Peter's wallet-all intact! The only thing of ours that the thieves had taken was my old camera that barely worked.

And so the Lord fulfilled His Word: "He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."