The First of 2 spitiual experiences that changed my life

I finally took time to right down what happened to me back in the mind 80's that lead to my walk with God and 2 years later lead me to the U.B.

I posted this on Bloggers.com

Saturday, January 5, 2008

The Heading is: Soljourn's Journey

and titled it:

I can't walk away from this

You know how some times an event happens and you just can't ignore it till you make sense out of it.

Well I had such an event and I have been spending the last 22 years hoping to find the words to explain what happened to me many years ago as I was working as a bouncer in a night club.

First let me say. I have my own ideas about what happened, and I have no doubt that it was of a spiritual nature, but you can not share some thing like this and have a fair and understanding reaction from persons coming from what ever background they come from.

So, I accept those that have reacted in disbelief and made attempt to convince me it was a psychological phenomenon, and I wish them well in there attempts to make this world fit their Box they live in.

As for me; My life was Change, and I was unable to continue living my life the same way after that night, and all the events that followed made it even more difficult to walk backwards ever again.
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Let me say here that I am not a writer, and thank God for spell check, I will do the best I can, and just give the fact as they happened, leaving the rest is up to you as a reader to figure out what makes sense to you in your realm of understanding.
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Back in the early 80's I was working as a Bouncer in a totally nude strip club. I had been working there ever since I was 17 yrs old.
It was the best job a young "hoping to be a man", teenager could ever have,.. so I thought at the time...not to discount the many life lessons I had there that help shape me and fast track me in to adult hood.

There are many way to grow up in this world and they all have they fair share of blessings and scars.

So if you will: I was a young man doing what I thought was the best to live up to the Idea of a Man, I had a Mentor in my life from the age of 15 that is a 6'3" thick forearms and a don't make the mistake of messing with me look in his eyes ... lol (well at the time that was how I saw him) biker, He is a Biker in every sense of the word and I will not be giving his name out nor any of the other persons that may come up in this telling. lets just say that he and the many he rides with don't like their lives being put out in the info stream.

He was more a father to me than the ones I had living in my life, First father; the one that adopted me, and a Stepfather that has been in my life since I was 8 yrs old. and he was not a good role model..trust me on that.

So as time past I was offered a job at the bar that my mentor work at, my mentor and I had been going to a gym for some time and I think he thought I was up to the challenge, and I was definitely up to seeing the dancers..

But the boyish joy was soon to be put to rest.

With in 2 months of working there a man decided he was Bruce Lee, a gun was pulled and while I was diving on another person wanting to get in to the fray, was missed by inches by the bullet that hit the man I was diving on. Can you say Grow up really fast! I did

I began to run scenarios in my mind from that day forward to be prepared for any thing.
and it payed off many time after that night.

I am sure some if not many of you know what it mean to get thick skinned. As I grew up in a not so friendly house hold and walking in a life of challenging Ideology's of man hood my skin was getting pretty think and working that club just took me to a new level.

I admit I was a screw up young man and had no real understanding of life other than the disjointed views handed to me by my life, but this was a new lesson, and I was learning how to be a not so pleasant person. I got really good at making people believe I would hurt them more than they could hurt me.

I was a 6'2" 225 lbs, long haired, goatee on my face, learning to look at you with a don't kiss with me stare. I was taking Kempo as well. just to make sure my pants were filled. if you know what I mean.

Any how over the year working there I became a professional bung, and I claimed to any one that asked; that I was proud of it.

One day a man came walking up to the club and I could see right away he would be trouble, but that did not mean we couldn't take a little money off him before I kick him out. So I let him in knowing I would need to check on him from time to time.

And low and behold as soon as I did go in to check on him, he was toe to toe with my head waitress cussing her up one side and down the other. ( unacceptable) So I walked up to him and put a firm grip on his shoulder with a full arms length just in case he swung at me.
than I told him in a very unmistakable tone, IT IS TIME TO LEAVE and he said OK.
Than proceeded to walk out the front door. I learned along time ago you never turn your back on some one.

I followed and made sure he got in his car and left... although he was not ready to leave it turns out.

As I walked out the door and he was about 3 feet in front of me already in the parking lot.
I saw his elbows rise a little while his hands were still in front of him seeming to be around the belt area...Like I said I ran scenarios all the time thinking of what some one might do. I thought he might be pulling a gun out from his waist line which is a common place to carry a gun. if not in the back of your pant. being the other most conman.

So I step towards him, and as he turned around I was able to catch his wrist with the gun. (that he did in fact have) and all in one swift move I grabbed his wrist holding his arm in the air just in case the gun went off, while at the same time ran my other hand straight into his throat. My momentum was enough to take him down to the ground and pin his hand with the gum to the concrete, I also drop a knee in his stomach as we hit the ground hoping to knock some of the fight out of him.

Now let me say that over the years I had heard many of the persons I hung around, mention that if some one pulled a knife or a gun on them that that knife or gum was theirs from that day forward and they had the right to kill that person for being so arrogant.

So when I had him down I started to slide his hand towards his head placing enough pressure on him so he could not get away and I could with a strong grip maneuver my hand over his so he could not let go and also make sure his finger prints were the only one on the gun. I was putting my hands in a place that allowed me to pull his finger over the trigger... you have to understand this all happened very quickly so as I looked at him I saw the side of his head open up as the bullet went out the other side.

As I looked at him I had a strange dialogue run through my head.

First: I thought wow you just killed some one.
Follow by; so he pulled the gun on me, he got what he deserved.
then there was this feeling of how do I feel about having killed some one.

I was compelled to searching inside of my self and I realized I had no feeling about this at all.

Then I thought to my self, wow. just how far have I come in life to be able to kill some one and not give a ka kadoodie.

All the sudden I was asking my self if I was OK with this... I was not sure my thoughts paused..

(And this is where things get really wired.)

With out warning all the sudden every thing around me went black. I could not see a thing. my mind raced to find an explanation for this, I was not OK with not knowing what was happening to me.
Then I felt this feeling like gravity was pulling on me very hard, and the best thought I had on this was, I must be moving or was going some where in motion very fast. It seemed as if it was an eternity in time, my mind racing to explain this so I could be in control of my self and having no luck doing so.

Then with-in an instant, I was surrounded by light and found my self standing in the parking lot of the club I worked. the only thing was, it was day time and the club was closed and I was about to freak out.

As I looked around I saw two Bikers standing on the left side of the club as I faced it.

I thought to my self I have to get my bearings back, so I walked over to the two of them, and noticed right away that they did not seem to notice me. (which if you have ever been around bikers is not going to happen)... they see every thing going on around them.

So as I waked up to them I began to see some thing familiar in the guy standing to the left. his hair was gray and long and he had wrinkles in his eyes with a long goatee also gray. It hit me he was me. an older me, I did not know what to think at this.

I then looked in to his/my.. eyes and saw a dark and empty soul. I could tell that by this age I had killed a few more times. I did not like how dark and empty those eye were and began to step back saying : "I did not want to become that person"
I must have repeated it 3 or 4 time till I found my self covered in black once again not able to see or tell what was happening to me.

And just like before is seemed as if I was traveling a long distance and it took for ever to get there.

With out sign or warning I found my self able to see suddenly, this time I was holding the man whom this all started with, and my hand was at his throat and I was holding his other hand to his head.
I saw his head flaying back and forth saying something that slowly came in to my hearing... like some one turning the volume up... he was saying : don kill me , Don't kill me, don't kill me.

Well I was confused .. I had fresh in my minds eye the vision of having killed him and seeing his brains come out the other side of his head.

I said to my self; what the kiss, this guy is dead, how can this be.
"Surprisingly" I noticed that every part of my body was calm and I felt a sense of serenity that I had not experienced before... heard a voice say ..." You do not want to kill him"

I looked at the top of this guys head and saw two shoes standing there and looked up to see the bartender telling me I did not want to kill this guy.

With a slow pause and a Calm voice I said: Your right I don't.

I pulled the gun out of the mans hand and gave it to the Bartender.
Grabbed the man and pulled him up off the ground and sort of tossed him to the wall of the building where we stood over him, at that time, the head waitress peeked out the door. The bartender told her to call the police, she did. And the man began to run his mouth..., I just smiled at him still confused and not really knowing what to do.

The Cops showed up pretty quick. Our club was well know so I guess if we called them they must have thought it to be a Big deal. They ran a check on him and found out he just got out of prison for rape, and this was a violation of his parole. So I imagine, he went back to prison, I never heard one way or the other.

I did not share this event to any one for about 2 years, not really knowing how to put into words what happened. I don't know if I was the only one in the event that was touched by what I believe was spiritual forces reaching out to me at my cross road in life and giving me a chance to decide which path I was going to take, or if he also was affected by it as well in his own way ...I would like to think so. But who knows, maybe it was just my time to see the cause and effects of my life's journey and finally choose to make a directional change.

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There is more to tell but I am tired and will have to return to finish later.

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