Data Point: Alex's Story- Part 1 of 3

In one crazy week God demonstrated His faithfulness over and over again.

Hi friends! Today I will begin to share another “data point” story about God. I first met Alex many years ago when we were both on a short-term mission team that was headed to Kenya and Uganda. I have always loved her passion for Jesus and for other people. I am so thankful to call her my friend. She is beautiful both inside and out. I really love her story that we will begin today, it is powerful in so many ways. Enjoy!

Note: Although this story is written and edited (as minimally as possible) by me following an interview with Alex, it contains her words and her story. A big thank you to Alex for being courageous and willing to share her story with me and with all of you.

Last year my husband Austin was up for promotion.  He was a corporal in law enforcement and was hoping to become a sergeant.  That was going to be a significant raise and help him on his career path.  Austin worked really, really hard.  He had been on many different special operations teams and went to every leadership class they offered.  He had dedicated himself to his career. 

In the beginning of March those who wanted to be eligible for promotion had to take a test.  It was only given on an annual basis.  If you were still on the promotion list, but a position was not available, you had to retest again the next March to remain on the list for the next year.  The exam was divided into two segments.  The written part was given like a standardized test.  On another day the candidate came in and did the scenario-based practical portion.  The panel would sit down, told you the scenario, and asked you what you would do.  As you walked them through it any of the panel could speak up and say, “This is now happening.  How would you react to that?”  They threw a lot of questions at you, so you had to be confident in your answers and make decisions quickly. 

Last year when they took the test Austin did well on both portions of the exam.  He passed.  They picked out of the top five names on the list when promotions became available.  Austin was a little bit farther down on the list, so once the first five people came off the list Austin was moved to number one.  It was toward the end of the year and they were still waiting on a spot to become available for him so he could fill a sergeant’s position.  He was discouraged but a lot of administration, the director, and two captains kept telling him, “We are so proud of you.  You have a spot.  It’s coming.  Just keep waiting.  Don’t lose hope.”

During that time he applied for other special ops teams.  For instance, he wanted to be in the air unit, not as a pilot, but as the one who is sitting giving information to the pilot and looking for information for the person on the ground.  After he took the interview the sergeants and captains made the decision of who they wanted on the team, which included Austin.  They had to take their decision back to their superiors, but the director said, "Austin can’t be on your team.  You have to choose somebody else because we’re about to promote him.”  The captain called him and said, “Hey, we can’t allow you to be on the air team because you are going to be promoted.  Otherwise, the position would have been yours and you would have been on our team.”  The way the teams were structured there could only be one sergeant.  The one who would run the team.  They all thought that he was about to become a sergeant, so it disqualified him from several special ops teams that he had interviewed for.  

Austin was pretty down because the promotion never came even though so many of his mentors and the director of the sheriff’s office told him, “You’re next.  Some position should be coming available soon and we are going to promote you.”  Time passed and it rolled around to the next March when he would have to retake the test to stay on the list.  This year they changed the company who they subcontracted out the whole process to.  A team from south Florida came up and gave the test.  They created the scenarios, the practical portion of the test, and this year they had to pass both the written and practical to remain on the promotion list.  Before he even took the test we would pray, “God if this is not what you want, shut the door.”  I thought Austin was going to get it because he was qualified and the next to be promoted.  I did not see him failing the test.  I thought worst case scenario he would be farther down on the list based on his test scores. 

I am not sure what it was, he never went to HR to find out exactly what happened, but something that Austin said during his practical caused him to fail that portion.  He was no longer on the promotion list even though for the six months prior he was the number one spot to be promoted when an opening came along.  We were really hoping that he was going to get the position.  That would have meant a better environment for him. He would be moved to a different shift and a different area.  He was really looking forward to moving up under a good leader.  I just kept praying for him and telling him, “Don’t forget, we laid this at God’s feet.”  You can’t have a heart posture and say I just want what you want God but then get mad when God gives you whatever He is giving you. 

We prayed about it and we knew we had to trust God even though it sucked and it was hard.  I would pray, “You know God, I love You and I trust You, but I think he needs a little bit of encouragement and so do I.  It’s not that I don’t have strong faith in You but I’m the kind of person who sometimes really likes to feel a tangible.  Something I can see.  Something I can feel for encouragement.”

Though we trusted God, we were in a tough season.  Sometimes we wondered if God was seeing us because everything was going in a disappointing direction.  I had prayed for God to increase my faith.  Then in one insane week, in ways I did not anticipate, God demonstrated His faithfulness.

It began with our three-year-old daughter, Maddie.  During this time, we were having some problems with her listening.  When we would be playing out in the backyard, she would think it was really funny to run out to the front yard and out in the road.  It was not clicking in her mind that it was dangerous.  To her it was a game.  In our neighborhood people would fly down the road.  They would not pay attention and there were several times when I would have to chase Maddie and catch her before she got to the road.   We had to be extremely vigilant about not allowing Maddie out into the yard without being one on one with her and being on top of her while she was playing.

One evening Austin was on shift at work.  It was around 5 o’clock on Monday and I was cooking dinner when I heard the back door open.  I turned around and Maddie had already bolted out of the door and was running through the backyard.  I dropped the pan in my hand, and I was running as fast as I could through the backyard.  She began to run to the front.  As soon as I got to the side, I yelled out at her, “Maddie STOP!  Maddie STOP!” and she kept laughing and running.  The kid was so fast.

I was running and I knew I wasn’t going to catch her.  As I was coming around the house I glanced over and saw a truck coming.  Maddie was running in the yard right beside my car.  I have a big SUV and I knew that nobody was going to see her running on the side of it.  I got to the front edge of the house, and she was going and wasn’t stopping.  I was screaming at her.  It was like an action scene in a movie where there was slow motion while everything was moving.  I knew that the driver didn’t see me yet because my face was just past the house and I thought, “This is it. This is true surrender.  There is legitimately nothing I can do.”  I was still yelling but I knew she was about to run out into the road.  I just cried out, “God, protect her!  God help her!”  

As I reached my driveway, Maddie cleared the bumper of my SUV and two strides later she was in the road.

Next week we will begin Part 2 of Alex’s story.