Happy 3rd Anniversary, Frank!

Posted: Thursday, January 27, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 2k11, Frank, Northside Missional Community | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Happy 3rd Anniversary, Frank!

WOW!  It’s been a while since I have allowed myself to think about the night 3 years ago when Frank was shot outside my back door in Southern Barton Heights!  If you are new to the blog, or haven’t heard the story before…take a look at this string of posts telling the story of Frank (click his name…then scroll to the bottom and click “older entries” to go to the first blog post.  Be sure to go back to the first post…and read backwards so you get the story in order.) I take a few moments each year on January 27th to really think through the events leading up to that night and the events following it.  This is the first year, however, that I can read back through it on  y blog.

Can I just say it?…GOD IS GOOD!!!  Respond with me…  ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!  Vicky and I had a short conversation on FB a few minutes ago where she said…”That story still makes me cry.”  You know…it makes me cry, too.  Tons of emotion going on.  I don’t even know where to start!  And…I cried.  I give glory to God.  I’m humbled.  I’m grateful.  I’m amazed.  I’m encouraged.

Tonight, we had our weekly Missional Community where we studied the story of the Fishes and the Loaves.  One of the things I really get from that miracle is how Jesus took something really small…a boy’s basket of 5 loaves and 2 fishes…and fed over 5000 hungry people!!!!  Is that not crazy?  That the Lord could take something so small…and perform a miracle?  He just needed a willing participant, the boy offering his bread and fish.  That’s the way I feel about the night Frank got shot.  Louis and I had little-to-no first aid training.  Little-to-no experience in treating traumas.  But, you know….we didn’t need it.  We had the Holy Spirit…and that is all we needed….and a willingness to go.  Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

So now, I wonder…what “fishes and loaves” am I holding on to and not sharing?  What am I NOT willing to offer up to the Lord to use to bring Him glory because I think that I don’t have enough experience, enough education/knowledge, enough money, enough time, enough training, enough…fill in the blank with any obstacle/excuse you can think of?  It’s time to step out in trust and faith and let God be God…because I can NEVER have enough of anything.  The best thing I can do is get out of the way.  Zechariah 4:6b says, “…‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”  I can’t work hard enough, smart enough, efficient enough.  I can’t get enough education, time, money, etc. to do what God does.  It is NOT by my might, power, brains, money, common sense, education, scheduling, etc. but by HIS Spirit!

Louis and I could NOT have arranged that night even if we had tried, but God knew where we needed to be and when.  So…I’m going to step out in that faith, trust and obedience.  Give what I have.  Give what He has given me.  I’ll do it from one-day to the next and let God be God…and give HIM all the glory!  Amen?

So, Happy 3rd Anniversary, Frank!  To new beginnings!  To your new life!  Love you and thankful that God brought us together!  Can’t wait to see your face again!  To God Almighty be the glory!

The Word Became Flesh…

Posted: Saturday, March 20, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: 2k8, Frank, Louis and Me! | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

If you missed the last 2 posts…Change of Heart….Just in Time (3.18) and MGV – Barton and Roberts (3.19), you may want to read those first!

After reeling off my medical information, Louis was released from his job as first aid provider before I was.  He went to check on the kids.  I reminded him of the meat on the grill…which he had already thought of while on his way out of the house earlier.  (See how the Holy Spirit guided us through it all?!?!?)  It was funny when the paramedics asked if I was a nurse and I told them No…I got my medical training watching Marcus Welby and Medical Center as a child and ER as an adult.  My extensive medical expertise must have given it away.  🙂  I was finally released from my position and the paramedics took him away (it took 3 men to lift him on the gurney…as Frank was not a little guy!).

inside bullet hole at bottom of the stairs

Although the detectives wanted to speak to me right away, I was allowed to go inside and change my clothes.  When I entered into the house to head up the steps, I had a surprise waiting on me….a bullet hole under the window at the bottom of the steps.  Yes, a stray bullet came inside the house.  I am soo thankful that no one was climbing the steps at that time!!!  So now…we have experienced a little Law and Order, some ER and now we have CSI goin’ on.

While sitting at the dining room table talking to the detectives, I heard some wailing, screaming and crying outside.  I wanted to desperately go and console whoever it was, but needed to give my account of what had happened.  Later, I learned that it was Frank’s mom.

Nichelle, my neighbor and true sister, came over and sat with us on the front porch.  I am grateful for Nichelle, as she brought a peace along with her.  I called a few prayer warriors to cover us during this time. Although I left out a few of the details, I, surprisingly, called my mom as well and told her what was going on so that she could pray.  I was worried that it would make the news and didn’t want her to see it there.  But, I also didn’t want her to worry.

bullet hole from outside

After everyone was gone and it’s about 11:30pm, Louis and I finally get to eat our dinner…while standing up at the kitchen counter…eating our pork tenderloin with onions with our fingers.  You could tell the adrenaline was pumpin’!  This is when we both agreed that we HAD to go to the hospital.  So, Louis and I venture up to MCV.  If that was my brother, son, friend, husband, boyfriend…I would want to know what we knew.bullet hole from outside

It is in the Gateway Building of MCV that our relationship truly started to develop.  This is a story of racial reconciliation, a story of grace and mercy, a story of faith….

This true account is what gives me my life…and mission….scripture….

The Word became flesh…and moved into the neighborhood.

John 1:14 MSG  Holy Bible