31st Birthday Reflection Part 1: Dead at 19

Sounds pretty dramatic huh?  Well, to be honest I really thought this about myself.  I remember growing up in the projects of Chicago and constantly dealing with fights and fearing being able to just go outside and plan.  My mom a lot of the time had to push me out of the house just to go and get some exercise.  I remember a time when I was about 13 years old when I was playing for my high school baseball team.  I was wearing my baseball jersey back home from a game and I felt really proud.  I took the green line from Ashland and 69th to 55th and MLK drive.  Some of you from Chicago might know what I'm talking about.  There were only three people in the train caboose (can't remember the right word at the moment lol), A middle aged woman, and older male, and myself.  This was probably around the mid-nineties.  The older male comes over to me, sits down, and says these exact words, "When you get off the train, I'm going to rob you and I'm going to kill you."  You have NO idea how terrified I was!  I was a little kid! This asshole was bigger than me, and I figured out a long time ago that I was a pacifist.  I didn't like fighting or confrontations, I wouldn't fight even if there was a large group around me pushing me to fight.  Anyways, tears are streaming down my eyes as this guy starts to have a NORMAL conversation with me!  Are you serious?  He starts to talk to me about baseball, and growing up, asking me how I'm doing, etc.  It is still to this date one of the most wicked experiences I had, and during a formative time for me. 

There was something different for me during this period of life as well.  I was being witnessed to by Korean Americans with the Gospel of Jesus.  I remember going to a bible study and them teaching about prayer.  "When we pray, God hears our request and is willing to answer us" they would tell us.  What a fine time to apply this right?  So as this guy is talking to me, I'm ignoring him and praying to Jesus, asking him to protect me from this man and save me from this harm that going to happen. 

People don't have cell phones during this period of time, well few people.  Beepers is what it has been all about.  So when the lady, the other person on the train pulls out a phone and begins to say out loud on the phone, "Hello, police, there is a man on this train threatening to kill this young boy," my mouth was stuck on astonishment.  What happened next was freaky.  When she did that, the man looked at me, GROWLED at me, and ran off the train, ONE STOP BEFORE MINE!  Thanks be to God! I ran FULL SPRINT back home and to this day, I've never ridden the green line in Chicago again!

Experiences like that happened to me more often than I've wanted to claim, and though there has been Godly intervention all the time, my world began to change.  I had NO CHANCE to survive this world..  I was prey to everyone, and eventually I was going to get it.  I heard a statistic that said "Young black men who live past 19 years old have a high chance to live longer." I thought to myself, "That's definitely not me..."

I'll finish the last part of this later today, wanted to start out with a  little birthday blogging!  Love to hear your thoughts!