Texas Ghostrider had an interesting post. I have a similar post titled 'Misdemeanor Shooting.' The principal is the same. I remember a story an officer told me. I was in the academy and we had to do one ride-a-long as part of our training. At the time I worked at a grocery store and had a police sergeant come through my line so many times we became acquaintances. I asked him about doing a ride-a-long and told him I was in the police academy so he wouldn't dismiss me. He arranged an evening shift ride-a-long. To him it was a 'routine' shift. For me it was an adventure! I saw a call of a 15-year old acting disrespectful to his mother. It was the hood. He was a teen, no job yet wearing expensive sneakers. I remember the officer asking him how he paid for those shoes. The officer said he hustled but the kid denied it. When we entered the apartment the kid was holding a screwdriver which was promptly removed. The kid pushed his mother and was acting tough. So the officer picked him up and shoved him against the wall. He then looked at the mother and asked "is this how he shoved you, or like this!" The officer again rammed the kid into the wall. Now, even back then I knew the officer was going too far. However the statute of limitations has run out by now and plus I couldn't recall the officer's name if I was water boarded. The kid deserved it though.
Anyway, in relation to Ghostrider's post... The officer told me a story. We passed some apartment complexes that were full of crooks. He told me he made a shooting scene out there one evening. The victim was a drug dealer. He was shot by a rival drug dealer and was still alive when the officer arrived. The officer saw this young man die. I think he had kids but he got caught up in the 'game' out there and paid with his life. Yet before he died, the drug dealer apparently came to a revelation. He realized he f***** up his life and said so to the officer. The officer bluntly said that he's dying because of the choices he made. The drug dealer realized that before he died. That always made me wonder. Can someone get into heaven making that final realization at the last minute? Normally I don't care about drug dealers, however in the case of this young man, I do hope so. It's just tragic it took his death for him to realize it.
3 comments:
I am not a structured religious person but i have always wondered that. At the last second of their life they repent their ways, Where do they go? I watched a man die, I could not save him and the look in his eyes as he died. He was scared and I think he was going down. Misdemeanor Homicide I have heard around the street. Jason wrote someting about it and my mind started to wonder. I wish I had a talent for writing as y'all two. Be safe and stay safe!
Not sure what everyone else thinks, but My heavenly Father doesn't have a "gotta be 15 minutes ahead of any death-causing experience". The only thing he cares about is if that repentance comes from the heart. And He'll know.
General Christian theology holds that deathbed repentance gets you into Heaven. In some ways it's more real than just about anything else. Catholic/Episcopal teaching is that God alone knows who has received salvation. My personal belief has been that God knows what's in the heart of Man. So while I can't say for sure, my heart believes God took him in.
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