I wanted to start this post off with a statement on how the devil is always busy and how I should have expected some level of foolishness since I'd participated in Mission meeting yesterday and was preparing for church this morning in spite of very un-Miami like temperatures.

I didn't expect to find a bullet hole in the windshield of my car that travelled through to the back of my car, nipped the rear right headrest and shattered the back window. Hello. I didn't expect that but that's exactly what I found.

I remembered that last night, at about 11:38 pm, I'd heard a series of about five gunshots in rapid succession. I didn't hear a vehicle pull off. I didn't hear any talking or any screams so I waited a couple of minutes before going outside. There were no signs of alarm so I went back inside my home.

I didn't call the police. The sound was close but the shots seemed to have been fired north of my home. I was sure my neighbors would call. I was wrong.

I would later find out that some of my neighbors heard the shots and one neighbor heard a vehicle pull off and travel west. The shooting occurred in front of my home. The bullet that pierced my car was fired in a westward direction. It's possible that the shots were fired from a vehicle but it seems more likely that the shooter was on foot possibly aiming at the fleeing vehicle.

My emotions ran the gamut from anger to annoyance and then gratitude. The thought of someone or persons callously discharging a weapon that could have easy resulted in injury or death just ticked me off.

The reality of the hoops I would now have to jump through to have my vehicle repaired brought out my feelings of annoyance. Call the police. Call the insurance company. Glass everywhere. Do I get a rental car? An-noy-ing.

Then I thought of the number of times I have parked my vehicle or rolled my garbage bin to the curb or performed some other routine task at that hour. I could have been shot. I thought of the people in Miami who have died because of driveby shootings. I know it wasn't my time to be shot or killed and I'm good with that. I know that I am blessed and God still has work for me to do. My gratitude definitely overshadows my anger and annoyance.

The gun violence in Miami (and everywhere else) needs to stop but we already know that. I am a child of the Most High. No matter busy the devil is, God is in control. Always.

Smooches…
~ Va-Va