soccerbrace
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Colorado Springs
Alright, so if you have not yet seen it on T.V. or the internet, or through someone else, there were some crazy events that unfolded today in Colorado Springs.
This morning, I get a text message:
LeAnn-"I am going to the 11 o'clock service"
James-"me too"
LeAnn-"Whoever gets there first should save each other a seat"
James-"sounds like a plan"
LeAnn-"or you could pick me up and we can ride together
James-"I can do that"
I picked up a friend (LeAnn) this morning before service. We arrived a little late. We sat there and when the service was done, we got up and she introduced me to a whole bunch of her friends. We were just enjoying the company of the people around us and just talking away. Amongst one the people that I met was a girl named Chelsea, who was one of LeAnn's best friends. Chelsea and I spoke and it turned out that she was close with my cousin Michelle, who lives out here with her husband and a huge family.
So when LeAnn and I had our fill, I asked her if she would like to go get coffee with me. She said "sure, we can do that". We hop up int the X and take off. As we are heading over to Starbucks, first turn past the church, we see a cop car racing in the opposite direction. I said, "someone's getting a ticket". LeAnn replies, "yeah...sucks". Another cop follows closely behind. "They're really out to get people today aren't they?" I remark. Then more and more and more vehicles come flying past us. Cop cars, ambulances, fire trucks and everything! At first we thought that it was a bad accident, but something else must have been up. "Maybe we should go back to the church?" LeAnn asks. I answer, "Let's do it". "we don't have to, we can just get coffee" She replies. "No, let's go because that way you can have a piece of mind." We head up this road and pull a U-turn.
LeAnn gets a phone call from her dad:
"where are you at?"
"I am on 83, why?"
"You safe?"
"Yeah I am here with James why?"
"Because some gunmen just came into the church and started shooting people"
LeAnn was on the phone non-stop from there. She kept on calling people from the church to make sure some of her best friends were alright. They would not answer.
We headed back in the direction of the church and the police and Fire department set up a road block. We could not go any further. We turned back and headed toward the Panera Bread cafe where her mother was. Finally she is able to make contact with her friends. They were all ok. I called my cousin Michelle:
Michelle-"Hello?"
James-"Michelle-is your entire family at home?"
Michelle-"who is this?"
James-"it's James-is the entire family home?
Michelle-"Yeah, why?"
James-"because some gunmen just came into New Life and started
shooting"
Michelle-"Oh my God!!!! We decided not to go in the last minute!"
James-"K I am going to come over there in a little bit if that's alright""
Michelle-"Sure"
After that, LeAnn just wanted to go home. I took her home and let her know if there was anything she needed....
After dropping her off, I felt compelled to go back. I drove back toward the church. This is one of the biggest churches in the country, mind you, so it takes up an entire block. There were a line of cars on the side of the road. I turned around and parked my X.
A group of people were there with loved ones that were still inside. Some of them were hysterical and others were calm. We all came togethere and prayed for about 10 minutes just taking turns. I am not gonna lie, I was bawling my eyes out. I was standing by one lady whose son was still in there. He would not answer his cell phone. She was staying amazingly strong. A news crew pulled up behind us and was filming us. That lady got an interview and it was life-changing to watch. Another lady that I was standing by was actually communicating with her son that was inside. He mentioned that two teenage girls got shot from TAG (a youth ministry), and thought they were killed. He also mentioned that some little girl was standing over her mommy (who was shot) crying saying "mommy, don't leave me". on another phone call, a few kids were hiding under a stage taking cover. It was so incredible. I stayed with this group of people for about 30 minutes and then the fire truck let traffic through so that we could pull up to the same block as the church. We kind of caravanned over there and then we each went our separate ways.
I very slowly circled the church a few times. It was something that you are used to only hearing on the news. There were swat teams and stuff like that all around. Snipers were hiding behind vehicles with their guns aimed at the doors in the ready position. There must have been 100 police/ambulance/ fire truck, bomb squad, trucks all around. Not to mention every single T.V. news station had at least one vehicle there. People were being interviewed left and right. There were probably 1,000 camera men pointing their lens at the church.
I proceeded to my cousin's house and greet the entire family with a bear hug. My youngest second cousin Kiani w(13)as there and she gave me a gigantic hug. I had never been close to her because she was always a little distant because I am older I guess but she warmed right up to me. I have never been so glad to see her. She is also part of TAG so I thought that some of her friends were shot. LeAnn is also a mentor for all of the TAG girls. Kiani was calm so I decided to tell my cousin (her mom) instead and let her tell the news to her.
I entered into the office where my cousin was. We sat and talked. Michelle, who is close with Chelsea (LeAnn's best friend) said that she called Chelsea. It turns out that Chelsea's vehicle got shot at and her mother got shot. Isn't that crazy! I just met this girls moments before and her car is getting shot at! Chelsea was leaving the parking lot and her car was where the opening shots were fired.
Now here is the kicker. LeAnn almost ended up driving because I was running a tad late to get to her house. IF she chose to drive, she would have been there in the Foyer still and would have been talking to friends shed admitted.
Now, as soon as I made the first left coming out of the church, that is when we saw all the police vehicles. It seemed like 1 minute or so after we left is when we saw it racing past us. According to numerous sources, the cops were on the scene within two minutes, meaning I left there seconds before the first shots were fired. Now remember, the first shots were fired at my new friend Chelsea and it hit her mom. Chelsea told My cousin of where the shots were fired. It turns out, that the first shots were fired at the EXACT SAME EXIT that LeAnn and I JUST LEFT seconds before.
I called LeAnn and she agreed that if we were 15 seconds later, then it would have been us. We would have been the the victims.
It was not my time. It was not LeAnn's time. It is just amazing to see how it played out. It is crazy to think that I could have drove past the gunmen and not even known it. I was not looking out for anything out of the ordinary so I don't know.
I am pretty shook up, thinking that I possibly narrowly escaped death, but it gave me a new appreciation for life.
Part of me wanted to play hero. I played out actions in my head. IF it were me who was getting shot at, I would point Shelby right at him and floor it. I would love to take a Shrock to his abdomen and have some herculiner sandpaper his face. I think I would have superhuman strength and swing him by his feet like a baseball bat into my bumper. That would give me joy. Even if I got shot in the process, better me than others. And I would have died knowing that I was trying to save others.
Too bad it has to be huge things like this for us to appreciate the small things in life. Even though you may be broke as a joke, You might still be healthy and have some peanut butter in the cupboard that you can spoon out. Even though you are breaking out pennies to pay for gas, you still have a job to drive to. Even though you may be in and out of depression, you still have friends that you have shunned that will be there for you no matter what.
So appreciate the small things my friends, and do not focus on the negative. Although there may be things in your life that are bringing you down, once you are over them, and once you are past that hump, then you appreciate normality that much more. But why? Why does it have to come to that extreme? Why does something horrible have to happen in order for people to know that when things are not going bad, they are actually going so well?
Everyone in here who is reading this has had a tragedy in their lives I am sure. So when they are over that hump, and that difficult time in their lives, they appreciate that aspect, but not the whole picture.
I urge you to be thankful for every little thing and life will be that much grander.
Is it just me, or do I have an insane life?
Love you all, and I am thankful that you are all my brothers-James
This morning, I get a text message:
LeAnn-"I am going to the 11 o'clock service"
James-"me too"
LeAnn-"Whoever gets there first should save each other a seat"
James-"sounds like a plan"
LeAnn-"or you could pick me up and we can ride together
James-"I can do that"
I picked up a friend (LeAnn) this morning before service. We arrived a little late. We sat there and when the service was done, we got up and she introduced me to a whole bunch of her friends. We were just enjoying the company of the people around us and just talking away. Amongst one the people that I met was a girl named Chelsea, who was one of LeAnn's best friends. Chelsea and I spoke and it turned out that she was close with my cousin Michelle, who lives out here with her husband and a huge family.
So when LeAnn and I had our fill, I asked her if she would like to go get coffee with me. She said "sure, we can do that". We hop up int the X and take off. As we are heading over to Starbucks, first turn past the church, we see a cop car racing in the opposite direction. I said, "someone's getting a ticket". LeAnn replies, "yeah...sucks". Another cop follows closely behind. "They're really out to get people today aren't they?" I remark. Then more and more and more vehicles come flying past us. Cop cars, ambulances, fire trucks and everything! At first we thought that it was a bad accident, but something else must have been up. "Maybe we should go back to the church?" LeAnn asks. I answer, "Let's do it". "we don't have to, we can just get coffee" She replies. "No, let's go because that way you can have a piece of mind." We head up this road and pull a U-turn.
LeAnn gets a phone call from her dad:
"where are you at?"
"I am on 83, why?"
"You safe?"
"Yeah I am here with James why?"
"Because some gunmen just came into the church and started shooting people"
LeAnn was on the phone non-stop from there. She kept on calling people from the church to make sure some of her best friends were alright. They would not answer.
We headed back in the direction of the church and the police and Fire department set up a road block. We could not go any further. We turned back and headed toward the Panera Bread cafe where her mother was. Finally she is able to make contact with her friends. They were all ok. I called my cousin Michelle:
Michelle-"Hello?"
James-"Michelle-is your entire family at home?"
Michelle-"who is this?"
James-"it's James-is the entire family home?
Michelle-"Yeah, why?"
James-"because some gunmen just came into New Life and started
shooting"
Michelle-"Oh my God!!!! We decided not to go in the last minute!"
James-"K I am going to come over there in a little bit if that's alright""
Michelle-"Sure"
After that, LeAnn just wanted to go home. I took her home and let her know if there was anything she needed....
After dropping her off, I felt compelled to go back. I drove back toward the church. This is one of the biggest churches in the country, mind you, so it takes up an entire block. There were a line of cars on the side of the road. I turned around and parked my X.
A group of people were there with loved ones that were still inside. Some of them were hysterical and others were calm. We all came togethere and prayed for about 10 minutes just taking turns. I am not gonna lie, I was bawling my eyes out. I was standing by one lady whose son was still in there. He would not answer his cell phone. She was staying amazingly strong. A news crew pulled up behind us and was filming us. That lady got an interview and it was life-changing to watch. Another lady that I was standing by was actually communicating with her son that was inside. He mentioned that two teenage girls got shot from TAG (a youth ministry), and thought they were killed. He also mentioned that some little girl was standing over her mommy (who was shot) crying saying "mommy, don't leave me". on another phone call, a few kids were hiding under a stage taking cover. It was so incredible. I stayed with this group of people for about 30 minutes and then the fire truck let traffic through so that we could pull up to the same block as the church. We kind of caravanned over there and then we each went our separate ways.
I very slowly circled the church a few times. It was something that you are used to only hearing on the news. There were swat teams and stuff like that all around. Snipers were hiding behind vehicles with their guns aimed at the doors in the ready position. There must have been 100 police/ambulance/ fire truck, bomb squad, trucks all around. Not to mention every single T.V. news station had at least one vehicle there. People were being interviewed left and right. There were probably 1,000 camera men pointing their lens at the church.
I proceeded to my cousin's house and greet the entire family with a bear hug. My youngest second cousin Kiani w(13)as there and she gave me a gigantic hug. I had never been close to her because she was always a little distant because I am older I guess but she warmed right up to me. I have never been so glad to see her. She is also part of TAG so I thought that some of her friends were shot. LeAnn is also a mentor for all of the TAG girls. Kiani was calm so I decided to tell my cousin (her mom) instead and let her tell the news to her.
I entered into the office where my cousin was. We sat and talked. Michelle, who is close with Chelsea (LeAnn's best friend) said that she called Chelsea. It turns out that Chelsea's vehicle got shot at and her mother got shot. Isn't that crazy! I just met this girls moments before and her car is getting shot at! Chelsea was leaving the parking lot and her car was where the opening shots were fired.
Now here is the kicker. LeAnn almost ended up driving because I was running a tad late to get to her house. IF she chose to drive, she would have been there in the Foyer still and would have been talking to friends shed admitted.
Now, as soon as I made the first left coming out of the church, that is when we saw all the police vehicles. It seemed like 1 minute or so after we left is when we saw it racing past us. According to numerous sources, the cops were on the scene within two minutes, meaning I left there seconds before the first shots were fired. Now remember, the first shots were fired at my new friend Chelsea and it hit her mom. Chelsea told My cousin of where the shots were fired. It turns out, that the first shots were fired at the EXACT SAME EXIT that LeAnn and I JUST LEFT seconds before.
I called LeAnn and she agreed that if we were 15 seconds later, then it would have been us. We would have been the the victims.
It was not my time. It was not LeAnn's time. It is just amazing to see how it played out. It is crazy to think that I could have drove past the gunmen and not even known it. I was not looking out for anything out of the ordinary so I don't know.
I am pretty shook up, thinking that I possibly narrowly escaped death, but it gave me a new appreciation for life.
Part of me wanted to play hero. I played out actions in my head. IF it were me who was getting shot at, I would point Shelby right at him and floor it. I would love to take a Shrock to his abdomen and have some herculiner sandpaper his face. I think I would have superhuman strength and swing him by his feet like a baseball bat into my bumper. That would give me joy. Even if I got shot in the process, better me than others. And I would have died knowing that I was trying to save others.
Too bad it has to be huge things like this for us to appreciate the small things in life. Even though you may be broke as a joke, You might still be healthy and have some peanut butter in the cupboard that you can spoon out. Even though you are breaking out pennies to pay for gas, you still have a job to drive to. Even though you may be in and out of depression, you still have friends that you have shunned that will be there for you no matter what.
So appreciate the small things my friends, and do not focus on the negative. Although there may be things in your life that are bringing you down, once you are over them, and once you are past that hump, then you appreciate normality that much more. But why? Why does it have to come to that extreme? Why does something horrible have to happen in order for people to know that when things are not going bad, they are actually going so well?
Everyone in here who is reading this has had a tragedy in their lives I am sure. So when they are over that hump, and that difficult time in their lives, they appreciate that aspect, but not the whole picture.
I urge you to be thankful for every little thing and life will be that much grander.
Is it just me, or do I have an insane life?
Love you all, and I am thankful that you are all my brothers-James
