Episode 3 – Point Blank Proposal
Hey Everyone. This is Parallel Proof. The tying of real life to the inspired word, and this one is called Point Blank Proposal.
There are some odd people out there. Now, I’m not saying I’m not peculiar and don’t have my quirks. I do. Yes, sipping red wine vinegar like its cognac is different, it’s definitely a thing of mine,
but different personalities, weird appearances, bizarre ways to process thoughts or circumstances—its what makes us unique and not to be judged on the outside. Judged only when true intentions are revealed. It’s then that you can decide how you want to handle who it is that declared themselves known.
No matter what opportunities are placed before us, no matter what conditions present themselves, the trials in life, the successes, the heartache, the wins, how we decide to handle them and make ourselves known will mold the clay of how we are fired in the kiln of decision. Welcome to episode 3.
There I was sitting in the patrol car all geared up waiting for something to arouse my inner need to exude machismo. I gotta have excitement! It was the drug of choice and at some point I needed to grab a hit. That fix was about to hit me in the most unlikely of times.
It was 4 am on the graveyard shift in the downtown area, and as I sat twiddling my thumbs, too lazy to create some havoc myself, I get this menial dispatch. I am relaxed and would like to stay so if the call is as boring as it appears. Just let me chill and close one eye.
There’s a saying among cops, “even dead bodies will decompose,” meaning, if it’s an incident that’s weak, one that’s a waste of time, take your sweet time. Everything will work itself out before you get there. Suspects will be gone. Victims may change their mind. The blaring ringing alarm call was most likely false. Even a dead body will decompose. Give it time. You won’t have to do anything, especially the dreaded paperwork. Haha
The dispatcher advised me that there was an individual observed relocating construction barriers, you know, those triangle shaped orange and white freestanding metal barriers with the flashing round orange light on the top of it? Some bloke was taking them from one site and placing them in the middle of the road and at intersections to cause vehicles to either swerve around them or divert them unnecessarily. Basically causing mischief for no apparent reason.--- We have a description ---and a location, ---and I don’t have much of a fire inside me to put the petal to the metal. But, alas, I have to do my civic duty. So, off I go.
Now most police calls require 2 officers, and if you aren’t doubled up in one car, then a second patrol vehicle will be dispatched with you. Side note: It does strike me funny that the city will dispatch 2 cops to a dude with a gun, and will send 8 firemen and 2 trucks to an elderly woman with heart palpitations. Seems odd. Anyway, back to the story.
I arrive in the area along with my partner and we see the barricades, but no one is located initially. Both of us move the obstructions to the sidewalk and feel a sense of, WOW, I saved the world! Haha. And then we see him. It’s the guy, matching the description. He has sat himself on steps outside some warehouse. The business is at the corner of the intersection we just saved the world at. The steps this wanna be perpetrator is perched on faces the road, only 4 steps in height, and is illuminated by one bright light hanging under an overhang covering those steps and the concrete entranceway to the business.
He is sitting at the top of the stairs with his feet planted 2 steps down. Normal looking. Non-homeless appearing. But also, not normal. Both myself and my partner hop in our cars to move them closer, and we nonchalantly get out to approach him.
You are taught when confronting anyone, you and your ally should approach a certain way. Like, in a triangle shape. The suspect as the point, and the officers as the base, spread apart. And then you close in, one hand always resting on the gun at your hip. Ready to---as from a top 10 movie of mine--Tombstone---“skin it, skin that smokewagon and see what happens”---I was ready. You always have to be. Annnnnd, case in point,
As we are moving forward in the department approved pie shape, and as I ask this guy “whats going on,” I’m on the right side as facing this dude, my partner on my left. When we were about 15 feet away, this guy, who had his hands resting on the concrete, jerks his body to his left and his left hand moves swiftly to his left hip, he grabs the handle of something unknown, and all I hear is an unsnapping.
And then he freezes. His stare at me was angry, cold, and contemplating as he tilted his chin down glaring just under his eyebrows. All this in a split second. Yes, I skinned it. The smokewagon known as a 40 caliber Sig Sauer pistol exited my holster and pointed directly at the one now near death. I had to sidestep to my right to obtain a better angle of what he had in his grasp. I ascertained in moments, that he had his hand on the handle of a knife halfway in its sheath that was secured to his belt. In lesser situations, a pulled gun has my pointer finger resting along the outside rail of the gun above the trigger. Not so now, ---my finger in the trigger---my adrenaline off the chain. I alerted my backup that--- “HES GOT A KNIFE,” and I also advised the now suspect that if made any move in the slightest, I was going to shoot him. Don’t do it, Bro!
Cops are trained that anyone with a knife can close the distance between them and you and stab you faster than you can get a gun out of a double or triple threat holster. Gladly, my gun was already out. Bulletproof vests don’t stop knife attacks. FYI.
I went on the ask my partner if he “had him.” I can’t look away to see if my partner had his gun pointed at him as well, so, I had to ask. I hear, “I got him.” “Don’t do it” I tell this dude. “Don’t move. I will kill you if you pull that thing out.”
Back to the story in a few.
Decisions shape who you have become at this very moment. Some choices are minor, like a tiny trickling stream slowly carving out a path in the landscape of your life. Some can be a tsunami, destroying everything that stands in its way. One decision. One outcome of life or death.
In that book most of us have skipped over called Deuteronomy, God was, and is, speaking to you and I. In 30:15 through 19, God says, “I have set before you today, life and prosperity, death and destruction. IF you try loving Me, IF you try and walk in my ways, IF you try and do what I’m asking you to do---I will bless you. You will increase, and you will live.” However,
IF you turn away, and other things or people are more important and get in the way, you will be destroyed. Set before you is life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life. And IF you choose life, you will be able to love Me, and listen to My voice, and hold on to Me, and you will be given many things. There is my offer of life and death.”
The questions to myself and to you are: What life decisions do you or I need to make to be able to live in the fullness? What needs to be put aside for existence within His blessings? What or who do we need to surrender for a complete meaningful relationship with our Creator?
Here’s my parallel:
The man sitting on the stairs had a proposal laid before him. A life or death decision had to be made in moments. Some decisions take time to make, or are made over time. Others can alter our future in an instant. How you respond. What you say. How you act. His was to be produced now. He eventually took his clench off the handle and placed his palm on his chest. With one firearm my partner pointed at his held chest, I holstered mine and approached. I pronounced, “you move, you’re dead!” I reached out and pulled the 6 inch bladed knife from its home.
Throwing the knife on the roof, and out of reach, the man was detained and questioned. He started crying and informed us he was planning on suicide by cop. He poured out his heart that he had AIDS and was planning on the police ending his mental and psychological trauma. But, he couldn’t do it. He wanted, --in that instant, to choose life, and as his future flashed before him, he wanted to fight for it, and change who he had become.
Fight for your future. Choose this day, and in each circumstance forging your tomorrow, ---life or death. Blessings or curses. Make the decision to regard God first in all affairs. The proposal is before us and a great many outcomes await ---- good----or bad-----Our choice.
I’d love to hear from you. Subscribe and comment and email me at parallelproofpodcast@gmail.com. Thank you for being a part of this project. I hope to have you here next week.
