Don’t Run or Hide From Your Past But Embrace IT By Bishop Cornelius Bowser I want my past to be shared with all generations of where Jesus has brought me from. I don’t want my life story to be concealed safely in the past. Although I still wrestle with my past, I don’t have any craving for God to uproot them. Even though sometimes, my past opens the door for others to annoy me. I was sitting down watching TV with my family one late afternoon, and 2 men showed up at my door. I went to the door to see who it was, and it was 2 detectives. Detective one said, “Can you step outside for a moment we would like to talk to you? Don’t worry; we are not going to arrest you.” I said, “Sure, I can step outside.” As I stepped outside to talk to them I thought, “I know you aren’t going to arrest me, I haven’t done anything.” When I stepped outside, detective one said, “Have you ever been to the Subway restaurant out here in Lemon Grove off of Broadway Avenue?” I said, “Yes... Why?” He looked at my car and said, “Is that your car.” I had a brand new Ford Taurus parked in my parking lot. I had it for about 6 months. I said, “Yes.” Detective one said, “How did you get it?” I said, “I bought it, that’s how I got it. I have a job.” Detective one said, “We have in our files that you are a Crip, and that you have been arrested for robbery before?” I said, “I have been out of gangs for eight years. I am saved and in church now.” Detective one said, “Well, there was a robbery at the Subway restaurant, and your finger prints were at the scene.” I said, “Well, my finger prints were there because I go there to eat all the time.” He then began to question me about another robbery that took place out in Pacific Beach. The store he named, I had never heard of it or been there, so I said, “No I have never been there. Did my finger prints show up there too?” The detective said, “Yes, they did.” I said, “You all need to redo my finger prints then, because I have never been there before. Maybe you guys have the wrong set of finger prints of me.” The detective said, “Can you come down to the Lemon Grove Sheriff office to take some pictures? We would like to take some pictures of you, and show them in a line up.” Without thinking I said, “Sure, when you would like me to come down?” The detective said, “As soon as you can. We would like to take you off of our suspect list. But we can’t until you do this line-up.” I said, “OK, sure, I’ll come down there as soon as I can.” The detectives left my house, and I am standing there wondering what in the world just happened. I was getting ready to go down there to let them take some line-up pictures, but then I thought, “These detectives are lying to me. I have never been out to that store in Pacific Beach, and he lied by saying my finger prints were there. If he is willing to lie, he will also try to set me up to take the fall for this robbery, just so he can solve the case. They’ve got to be crazy, if they think I’m going to let them take some pictures of me.” After I thought about it, I got in contact with a lawyer. I explained to the lawyer everything that happened between the detectives and me. After I finished telling her what happened she said, “Don’t take any line-up pictures. This is what you are to tell them: Say that your lawyer told you not to take any pictures, and if they have any questions, they need to get in contact with your lawyer.” Then she said, “If they call me, we can take it from there.” I said, “OK. Thank you!” I hung up the phone, and went to the Sheriff’s office, I told them what she told me to tell them, and I never heard from those detectives again. Other than those kinds of annoyances, my past and the flashbacks from the past, keeps me in remembrance of where God has brought me from. And I believe that one day people will stop judging me by the grisly ways of Wacky Corn (my gang name). When people look at me, I don’t want them to see Wacky Corn or a gang-banger. I want them to see the grace of God at work. I want them to catch sight of a man in whom God has changed for the good. I pray and hope that my life can be a testimonial light that leads people to Christ. I have learned to embrace my past, and not hide it or run from it. I once read a quote and this is what it said, “I embrace my past because it has fortified me. I embrace my past because it is what keeps me unpretentious. I embrace my past because it demonstrates what God can do, by displaying what He has already done. I embrace my past because it has taught me notions, which I could have never learned from a book, classroom or someone else’s testimony. I embrace my past because it is where God has brought me from. I embrace my past by learning from it to help others.”
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 07:26:11 +0000
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