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In the early morning hours of Thanksgiving, a burglar used an axe to break into First Family Church in Antioch, California. Who would be there on Thanksgiving day after all?

But Pastor Nick Neves had raced to the church when he heard the alarm go off and was there shortly to confront the burglar.

‘I shouted at him to stop, and that the police were on their way, and he ran and I grabbed a hold of him and we ended up wrestling in the parking lot of the church,’ Pastor Nick Neves said.

Axe or not, the burglar bit off more than he could chew with Pastor Neves.

‘I like to stay fit, and I studied in some jujitsu and kickboxing and I have a mixed martial arts background,’ he said. ‘So it was very helpful to be able to grapple with this gentleman without having to do much harm to him.

‘I was able to pin him to the ground and he got up and try to get away several times, but basically just trying to wear him out because I knew I could outlast him,’ Neves said.

Jeff Strawther, a longtime member of Family First Church, said of their brawling shepherd:

He’s very tough and we’re very grateful to God that he’s our pastor and not our enemy.

No kidding!

Pastor Neves did not glory in his victory over the burglar though. Instead he sadly wished that the man had not resorted to thievery. The church had just completed a major Thanksgiving food drive, providing groceries for 130 families in need.

‘It’s just ironic. If he had come a couple of days earlier, he would have been blessed and get some food and be cared for,’ Neves said. ‘But he decided instead to smash windows and desecrate property and do something that’s going to hurt the ministries.’

On top of that, Neves also said he would be happy to share the Gospel with him, and if God uses this intended evil for good and transforms the burglar’s life, it would truly would be a time for thanksgiving!

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