Let’s jump all the way back to December 31, 2009. Earlier that year I reconnected with an old friend and ultimately we started to hang out again. We were celebrating the coming of a new year along with one of his other buds. I was invited to hit up a casino that they usually go to. No gambling, just mingling with the folks around the main bar.
I met this old friend during our freshman year in college back in 2006. We would play pool in the dorms and play video games at his apartment on campus. Toward the end of our first semester, he started going to the hospital a lot. One of the times he came back, he told me that he received a blood transfusion. This was very shocking news to me but common to him. He had sickle-cell disease. With more hospital visits, he missed more class and wound up dropping out before the second semester. It was sad to hear that he dealt with this disease all of his life. It kept him from keeping a job, going to school, having a normal social life, and God knows what else.
I lost contact with him after December of 2006 but reconnected somehow in the Spring of 2009. I fail to remember how we reconnected but indeed we did. 2009 was a hard year for me. Around the time my college bud and I met up again was during a time when God was replenishing my soul. I attended a church event with another friend I met in 2009 and the main sermon was about emptying out “tainted water” so that our “cup would be filled new.” Church folk know what I’m talking about, haha. Little did I know, God was doing just that with me. I was so caught up in grief and despair that I was blind of the whole process. That’s also another story so look out for another blog post.
When my old college bud and I reconnected, I started to go over to his house. He stayed with his mother and sisters. He had a desolate room in the basement. When I walked in for the first time, I saw many open books on his bed. His room was surrounded with literature but his book of choice was the Bible. I discovered he was very knowledgeable of the Bible also. And when I say knowledgeable, I’m talking almost scholarly. Well that’s just my opinion. I know his faith in God has kept him grounded because one can easily fall from their walk with God if they’ve been through an ongoing battle with a disease. I learned a lot through conversations with him. Time spent around him got me back to reading the Bible and helped renew my spark in the Word.
Now let’s jump forward to December of 2009 again. The New Year’s celebration went well. It was the first time I celebrated without being at a church or at home. The atmosphere was bananas. Balloons were dropping from the ceiling, music was blasting, and people were dancing in the aisles. We decided to stay after midnight to mingle a while longer. I got a phone call at 3am.
It was my mom. She was slightly distraught. Her first words were of her explaining that she was alright. See, my mom was caught in the middle of a high speed chase. She was leaving her church’s new year’s service when a fleeing car sped through an intersection and hit her car. After the car had flipped a number of times, the chase was at an end. Dozens of police surrounded the scene with their guns drawn but there was no need of that. Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to dismantle the totaled car and pull out the culprits. My older cousin, who was also inside my mom‘s car, said she saw tarps pulled out for the bodies but wasn’t totally sure. Her mind, as well as my mother’s, was still overwrought from stress. Also, if it wasn't for my mom's car being in that exact spot, dozens of people exiting the church could have been hit my the fleeing car. The car was heading straight toward the exit. See how God used a tragedy to save more lives? To this day, my mom and cousin have not been paid for damages nor has their been a court case. Obviously, there is something deeper about this whole situation that my family is being kept in the dark about. I’m just glad they were able to come home without a scratch.
In later 2010, my dad was found a bloody mess in the middle of the street but that’s also another story. He still alive…he’s still alive, don’t worry. I’m gonna get to that story later.
Its by God’s grace that my family is alive and doing well. I’m glad that my old college bud is alive and that he was brought back in my life. I didn’t have anyone to hang with. Not only did I gain a companion, he was also a vessel that helped me get closer with God. I thought I’d never see him again but he came back in my life more important than ever. You truly never know the purpose of someone when you first meet them. And most importantly, I am alive. One thing did die in 2010. That was my old spirit.
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