"CAN I GET A WITNESS"

Being a news junkie I knew at the beginning of this summer the western states were officially “re-opening” from any Covid restrictions. June 1st?was the “back to near normal” start date. So, on June 2nd, we loaded up one of the SUV’s and began a six thousand mile Covid cabin fever relief road trip through the Dakotas, Big Sky country, Seattle, San Juan Islands, Oregon and California coasts then to Tahoe, Vegas and back to Lake Texoma.

When the teenage grandson learned Seattle was on the itinerary he wanted to go so he could get to the nearby San Juan Islands to watch the annual whale run and visit the Redwoods. He has an immense interest in nature and science so these were on his must see list. The rest of us had some “bucket list” items on our agenda for this road trip. Out of the fifty states, I had never been to North Dakota, Maine, Alaska or South Carolina so I could finally visit North Dakota. It had also been twenty years since I had traveled the Pacific Coast Highway so I was interested in revisiting the historic drive, especially since the last two times I drove it, there were dozens of detours.

Two weeks later, we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge to spend a few days in San Francisco. We walked down to Pier 31 from our downtown hotel as the last time I was in Frisco, two checking accounts of mine in two different banks in two different cities were cleaned out from using Uber. Took months to recover the funds and dealing with people who are about as useful as a steering wheel on a mule.

Sitting at Pier 31 and watching the sea lions play king of the mountain, I noticed a tall guy I thought I knew from somewhere. Maybe it was Presque Vu, cousin of Deja Vu, or more commonly called the “tip of the tongue” phenomenon but it was more than a sense of thinking you recognize someone.

Dinner time came and the grandson wanted to eat lobster after finally trying it in Seattle a few nights before. I was burned out on seafood and wanting some dead cow. We decided on McCormick’s & Kuleto’s since it was within walking distance.

When we were being seated, I saw this same tall guy again. He was sitting with a woman about his age and a younger woman. After we ordered I went to the restroom to wash my hands and when I returned to the table, my grandson was watching something on You Tube and asked me if I had ever been inside an Army tank. Bam! The guy heard “tank” and looked our way as my brain time traveled back to 1973 to remember a Vietnam War veteran I went to college with at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK.

“Tank” graduated from Tulsa Memorial High School, went to Vietnam and in 1972 was starting his freshman college year at Northeastern. “Tank” picked up his nickname from driving a US Army Patton tank during his tour in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. I first met “Tank” at “Granny’s Attic,” the closest off campus bar to the university. “Tank” and I logged umpteen hours in that bar playing chess and the old neon electronic dart game.

I never knew “Tank’s” last name. We always called him “Tank” and when I wanted to irritate him, I called him by his first name, Angus.

The last time I saw “Tank” was in 1973 at Tulsa’s Saint John’s Hospital ER. “Tank” and I?had driven to Oklahoma City to attend a Grateful Dead concert. After the concert we headed back to Tahlequah by way of Tulsa because “Tank” had been trying to reunite with an old girlfriend. Arriving in Tulsa, “Tank” used a payphone and called the old girlfriend. She told “Tank” that she and a few of her girlfriends were going to a bar called “Sugar Shack” so “Tank” said we would meet them there.“Tank” & I got to the Sugar Shack but no sign of his old girlfriend. We walked around to the side of the bar as there was a payphone there and he was going to call to see if she was on her way.

I heard this loud and thundering voice then felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. It was an ambush. Payback by the old girlfriend’s brothers and uncles for “Tank” leaving her to serve his country. Hate to think what would of happened if he left her for another woman as this ambush got me stabbed twice, in the shoulder and shin then was hit with a steel pry bar across my right jaw and that was a wrap as it knocked me out. I found out at the ER “Tank” was stabbed multiple times, shot once and beaten with brass knuckles and was wheeled to emergency surgery.

Five hours later, I had several stitches for the two stab wounds and a broken jaw which was now wired on the right side. I attempted to find out about “Tank” but without knowing his last name plus no one named Angus had been admitted, I left the hospital to find a ride back to Tahlequah and get my car. A few weeks later, I transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK and I never saw or heard anything about “Tank” again for 48 years and now we were sitting in the same restaurant in San Francisco.

We introduced our families and got the waiters to relocate us to a large table. “Tank” told me after his initial surgery for the stabbing and gun shot wounds they took him by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital because the only surgeons who could operate on the brain were there. He spent several weeks in a coma and four months in the hospital recovering. And I thought sipping soup through a straw for two months was as bad as an outhouse breeze.??

“Tank” had lived most of his adult life in Denver, but was forced to retire from a long career as an environmental engineer as he had been recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Parkinson’s. Both “Tank” and his wife are trained mountaineers which is probably why he withstood most of the early stage warning signs.

Turns out “Tank” and his wife sold their house, cashed out all of their annuities and investments while buying a VW bus. They were in San Francisco to see their daughter before driving the VW bus down to the Andes mountainous rainforest near the Amazon River in Brazil. Why? “Tank” was going to spend his last years and money trying to save souls in these remote areas.

The Andes, Amazon and rainforest are all dangerous environments but add drug cartels, violent native tribes including some cannibalistic rituals and a litany of other dangers tells me “Tank” is committed to sharing God’s Word.

However, I ramble on about this 48 year chance reunion to tell my conversation with “Tank” provided a long awaited answer to one of my prayers. 3,500 miles from home to encounter someone I hadn’t seen in 48 years who was the conduit for God’s answer.

When I began writing devotionals years ago, I answered the conviction to spread God’s Word by using a form similar to the Parables Jesus used. I opted for a blend of history, trivia, anecdotes and Biblical research. The history, trivia and Biblical research were all fact based but most of the anecdotes are fiction. After some of my devotionals were published, I got in a rut of using the same old six and two so to speak.

I’ve lived an eventful life and have been praying whether I should began using my own personal events to spread the Gospel because I’ve been a rotten sinner, forgiven Christian, rebellious reprobate, devoted worshiper and everything in between.

God has blessed me immensely but I seem to find a way to screw it up or take for granted so I’ve been waiting for God to answer how He prefers me to serve Him.

God’s Good Book has a baker’s dozen of teachings as to our responsibility in spreading God’s Word. Psalm 119:111 teaches our testimonies are God’s heritage and brings joy to His heart. Mark 16:15 is to the point we are to go into the world and preach the gospel. Revelation 12:11 teaches our bold witness defeats the enemy.

However, “Tank” when stated; “the primary task of the people of God is to bear witness to his great deeds,” the answer hit me head on. It is the Holy Spirit who determines how we spread the Gospel because it is the Holy Spirit which enables us. (Acts 1:8)

Heavenly Father, thank You for prayer. Whether it be a friend of long ago, donkey, burning bush or the Holy Bible, thank You for answers to our prayers. Let me never hesitate to let “This Little Light of Mine Shine” telling the world Your awesome love and grace have forgiven a rowdy, rebellious rascal like me!

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