Nothin’ But God

This is a short excerpt from Kevin’s book. It is completed but desperately needs an editor’s touch. If anyone has this talent or knows one, please contact me.

March 2000

Officer down!
Kevin, like the family in the TV series “Blue Bloods”, followed after the men in his extended family and joined the Police Academy for Baltimore City.
He was severely injured in the line of duty in March of 2000. Kevin was working his beat and pulled over a vehicle for a traffic violation. By the time he had finished giving the citation, it was too late. A utility tractor-trailer approached him at a deadly speed, ran over him, and dragged his body several blocks.
Kevin was able to push the call button on his walkie and call for help.
Fire, police, and EMTs all rushed to his side. As it turned out, the driver of the tractor-trailer was arrested by Kevin on a previous drug charge which sent him to prison. After being released from prison, this man stalked Kevin and purposefully hunted him down to kill him.
Kevin was in a bad situation. He suffered broken bones, a severed leg, and unconsciousness.

A fireman gave Kevin CPR which saved his life. Kevin was rushed to the hospital and remained in a coma for five and a half (5 1/2) months.

A clergy was on the scene at the time of the accident. Pastor Charles took Kevin under his wing and was a mighty influence in his life. Their friendship continues to grow today.
Kevin was in the hospital for a year.
The rehabilitation department helped Kevin, but he had a long road to recovery. He was paralyzed from the waist down and restricted to a wheelchair for nine and a half (9 1/2) years. (Thankfully, his severed leg was miraculously reattached to his body).
While in recovery, Kevin had numerous emotional, physical, and spiritual stress factors which he needed to overcome.
Kevin told me there was one nurse who had one time brought in several food trays. Each time she set one down, Kevin would throw the tray and all its contents across the room. The nurse was kind and patient as she calmly cleaned up the tray and brought him a new one.
Feelings of anguish and despair threatened his well-being as a black cloud of emotions hung over him.
“Kevin, I know you are a Christian and you have a strong faith. You will get past this.”
Kevin had no desire to listen to her. After all, she wasn’t almost killed and stuck in a wheelchair. His days as a police officer were cut short.
Along with additional food trays, the nurse brought in several Bibles so he always had one nearby where he could reach it.
Many months later and after many physical therapy sessions, Kevin began adjusting to his regime of exercise. Kevin strongly leaned on God for his spiritual, physical, and emotional healing. One day Kevin decided to visit the prison where Jim, the driver of the tractor-trailer was being held. Kevin took his Bible and wheeled himself into the cell. Kevin says the look on Jim’s face was of unbelief.
“What are you doing here?” Jim asked.
Kevin didn’t speak a word. He opened his Bible and began reading scriptures out loud.
Jim was very confused and annoyed. “What do you want?”
“If my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can forgive me for all my sins, then I can do the same for you. God forgives you and so do I”.
The infamous sound of a pin dropping could be heard.
Jim didn’t want anything to do with Kevin or his God, yet every week Kevin returned to read the scriptures and offered to pray with him.
Much later, Jim soon found himself looking forward to Kevin’s visits. He prayed along with Kevin and asked Jesus to forgive and save him.
Sometime later, Kevin went to the parole board and asked for an early release for Jim.
They couldn’t believe it!
“You want us to give parole to a guy who tried to kill you? Whose actions caused you to be paralyzed?”
“Yes,” Kevin repeated. “If my Savior Jesus Christ can forgive me of my sins, then I can forgive Jim too.”
A miraculous spiritual healing began as Jim was released on parole and after going to seminary, was soon to become a minister.
Years later, I am still amazed when Kevin finishes a phone call to Jim by saying, “I love you, buddy!” What a mighty God we serve!

American Red Cross
Kevin suffered many tragedies in his life. Besides his traumatic experience as a police officer, he is also a survivor of stage 4 cancer, seizures, a house fire, and a tornado. The American Red Cross (ARC) was there to assist him during these last two natural catastrophes. Because of their help, Kevin offered to assist them by giving back his time as a responder.
“I only planned to help for a few months, but that has turned into many years,” Kevin says with a smile.
Many times, during his fight with cancer, as Kevin was in the middle of taking chemo and radiation treatments, he would get a call to respond to a fire. As a volunteer, he could have said “no” since he was in the middle of major health issues, but Kevin loves and cares for people too much to refuse. He often says that focusing on helping others helped him through that difficult time and gave him a purpose to keep going.
Many of the men and women who work at the ARC whether as employees or volunteers care about helping people and give generously of their time and efforts.
One of ARC’s most consistent responders met up with Kevin as he also responded to the same multi-apartment fire. This meeting was the start of a close friendship between Kevin and Ahmad Bashir. They both readily responded to disaster calls during the early hours of the morning. Having assisted so many families and individuals as a team, they were soon referred to as the ARC’s “dynamic duo.”

Summer of 2022

The birth of “Love Thy Neighbor Food Pantry”.
Kevin worked long and hard in doing all the necessary paperwork to get his food pantry up and running. He paid for all his necessary licenses and arranged to pick up food donations from local merchants. We began to distribute food to the hungry at our home, outside in our driveway.

Christmas 2022

Like I’ve said in previous years, Kevin loves dressing up and playing Santa. This year, I told him I wanted a Mrs. Claus outfit so I could join in the fun.
Kevin has been letting his hair and beard grow. Even now, kids of all ages call him Santa.
One evening while at work, a young girl hurried up to Kevin and said, “Santa, will you ask Jesus to make my mommy better?”
The dad started to apologize but Kevin said, “Santa is a Christian.”
The three of them prayed with the young girl leading. Kevin told me that she prayed like a preacher. I’m looking forward to hearing a great testimony from that family.
Saturday, December 3, 2022, Kevin scheduled a visit with a special girl at her mom’s place of business with Santa and Mrs. Claus. It was my first time!
It was a bit slow at first, but once the kids heard Santa was upstairs, we had several friendly visitors.
We went out to eat lunch afterward and when we were about to leave he overheard a mom speaking to one of her sons who was playing on his tablet and not giving his brother his turn.
“You better be good and share with your brother. Christmas is not far away and you know Santa Claus is always watching.”
Kevin couldn’t resist. In his full Santa gear, he gently nudged the young boy’s shoulder.
“Hello. I hope you are sharing your tablet with your brother.”
Kevin later told me the boy’s eyes opened wide in surprise as he quickly handed over the tablet to his younger sibling.
There are some very tender moments when he plays Santa. He had breakfast with Santa at his work. Three previous times come to mind. When asked what he wanted for Christmas, a young boy said, “Santa, my mommy is very sick. I just want her to get better.”
Another child said, “I just want my dad to stop getting drunk and my mom to stop taking drugs.”
How so very touching coming from pure hearts. ‘Santa’ replies were the same both times.
“Santa is a Christian. How about if we pray about this?”
The children happily agreed that prayer was the best thing to do.

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