Thinking: This'll be the Day that I Die

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It was Summer 1975, when the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was at war with America, inside America. In addition to planting bombs under police cars in Los Angeles, these homegrown terrorists had killed several innocent people while robbing banks to finance their effort. Their actions were much the same as the President Obama's good friend and the then leader of the Weather Underground Group, Bill Ayers (who since served prison time for trying to blow up a federal building),

Anyway, a group of fellow officers had surrounded 5 members of the SLA inside a house in Watts and were involved in a nasty shootout against men armed with automatic rifles. As I headed toward the officers cry for help, It was then that I thought for the first time in my life, "Will this be the day that I die?" I feared death then.

Within a few months, while patrolling at night in downtown Los Angeles, I spotted a man trying to climb through an alley window into a ground level apartment residence. As I approached, he suddenly drew a 45-caliber pistol and aimed it at my face. I could clearly see his finger flexing as he tried to pull the trigger. And I wondered again whether it would be the last day of my life. I feared death then.

I followed an orange glow in the midnight sky to a house on fire only to find an old lady trapped inside. Amid small explosions, intense heat, and heavy smoke, I thought once again, "Will this be the day that I die?" I feared death then too.

Incidents like these occurred often in the world’s busiest police precinct during those turbulent times that I served in. Far more times that I want to relive in the stories I could tell.

But you know, I don’t fear death any more. It’s not that I’ll go looking for it, but more that I have prepared myself for it. I know that the only reason I’m still alive is because of God’s Grace. And I know that some day He will call again, and then I will live in a place without fear forever and ever.
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