A Day On The Street

for those of you that have read my testimony about my miraculous healing from Alcohol and drugs and became a born again Christian, there is an incident that accord two weeks before that miraculous event that would change my life forever.

As you know from my testimony, i lived on the streets for over 4 years so i saw some incredible things that many people that were living in the main stream of society would not have seen. Being on the streets takes on a life all its own. like a fungus, it grows on you. Unless a person has experienced it for themselves in depth, it is hard to put into words what its like. The best way for me to explain it is, i was trapped in another world and seemed to be no way out and i kept getting deeper and deeper into this world I created. It was as though somebody turned out the light inside me and i was groping in the darkness. I saw many horrible things take place in the 4 years of my desperation. I saw people raped, knifed, and even freeze to death on the back sides of Dipsy Divers  as we called them, from over exposure from the weather. Most were my drinking partners that i shared there dreams with.

 We ate out of dumpsters (Dipsy Divers) . We would wait for the restaurant to close and watch for the kitchen help to throw out the trash then we would quietly go through the Garbage after the restaurant closed down and some times before. Oh yes we would get caught some times and get run out but other times they would bring us out the food in a paper sack and we would take it back to our camp site in the woods Those of you that are reading this that have been homeless and on the street, knows that what i am saying here is only the tip of the iceberg, that thee are many more story's we could tell about life on the street I just wanted to set the setting and give you a glimpse of the life style i was living to prepare you for the next event leading up to my Deliverance which i call 'Touched By God"

It was a hot summer night in Florida but not any different then any other. As usual i would go visit my Mexican friends who lived on the corner of my street. My warehouse was only a few buildings away. They had a big house and six of them lived there along with their wives who all worked for a lawn maintenance service They were always working on their cars and drinking beer. They would always invite me over to drink with then and after a while it became an every night ritual. They all had a great sense of humor and we would sit out on the screen porch and tell jokes and laugh and have a good time, They knew that i was living in a warehouse so they would let me take showers at their place and every chance i got i did, otherwise i would tie a hose on to the out side bathroom door at my place and take a makeshift shower inside the bathroom.

One night I was over visiting and one of my friends (drinking buddy) said that they were getting short of beer and because i didn't have much money, just food stamps which i traded for money, asked me if i would walk down to the corner store and pick up some beer? I said sure so they gave me the money for a twelve pack and i walked down the street to pick up some beer and some cigarets The street was dimly lit with a yellowish glow coming from the lights. It was in a poor section of town which was known for its drug trafficking I was very familiar with it and knew people on the block and never was a fraid to walk the streets at night which i did quite often. But this night was going to prove different.

As i left the old house with money in hand, i walked down to the corner store as i did every night It was the only store close in the neighborhood that stayed open all night. As i approached the store i noticed something different that night, there in the parking lot were a lot of cars unusual for this tiny store to have so many cars in the parking lot even though it was a Friday night. As i got closer i saw a lot of blacks hanging out in front of the store which was not so unusual being that it was a prodomantly black area but i new the owners of the store well and he would not permit loitering in front of the store very long. As i got closer to the door i felt the tenseness in the air, With my street sense, i knew that something was up. I thought maybe they were planning to rob the store but later i found out that was not the case I walked in and there was a long line of people waiting to buy beer and cigarets finally i got to the counter to pay for  the beer and cigarets.

I crossed the old parking lot, turned right and headed toward the house. I got down about a block or so and someone comes up behind me and sticks a gun in my back. He demands that i give him the beer he tells me not to turn around. He takes the beer and reaches into my back pocket and takes my wallet which had 143 dollars worth of food stamps. That day i had gone to the welfare department to collect. Then a real tall black man that looked like a basketball player with a bandana around his head yeld at me to give him the gold necklace i was wearing around my neck mean while the guy that had the gun to my back took the goodies and ran. The guy who asked me for my necklace was standing in the middle of the street with a revolver pointing at my head he asked me again for my necklace and with that i through my hands straight up in the air and yelled back NO! you got everything else of mine and i am not going to give you my neckless and started walking down the street he yelled at me to stop and i wouldn't I knew that i was going to die but i hoped that with my arms in the air that my left arm would defer the bullet from lodging in my brain HE PULLED THE TRIGGER! and the gun did not go off!. I turned around and as i did i saw something i have never seen before, about twenty black men running for their lives, screaming and scared half out of their wits. I walked back to the house and told my friends what had happened. They all jumped up, got into their cars and went roaring down the street looking for them, but when they got to the store, there was nobody their. They thought i was making it up.

The next day it read in the paper that there were two gang rivalries, the cripts and the bloods at the corner store. They were facing off one another and that some of the members had been killed. Of course when my drinking buddies read that, they believed my story and it was my turn to buy the beer but all my food stamps were gone so they left me off the hook, they gave me some money and sent me down to the store to get more beer and cigarets so down the road i went.

Two Weeks later I gave my life to Christ!