Despite being repeatedly stabbed and left for dead by an attacker, a Detroit-area pastor says he's forgiven his still at-large assailant and hopes to one day pray with him.
Kevin Ramsby, executive pastor at Revival Tabernacle Church in Highland Park, Mich., returned to the pulpit for the first time this past Sunday after months of recovering from more than 30 near-fatal stabbings to his neck, back, face, arms and chest. An intruder attacked Ramsby in his home in the early hours of Aug. 4, while the pastor's wife and children were out of town. After regaining consciousness, Ramsby managed to reach his neighbor's house—while keeping his small intestines from spilling out of one of the gashes—and was rushed to the hospital. Following an emergency eight-hour surgery, doctors upgraded the pastor's condition from critical to stable.
"When you've gone through something that we have gone through, you begin to see things in a different light," Ramsby told the Revival Tabernacle congregation Sunday. "There are so many others hurting in our community, not just because of violence, with the economy and layoffs and jobs. The message I am sharing today is a message of God's faithfulness."
While police are still looking for Ramsby's attacker, believed to be 41-year-old Wesley McLemore, senior pastor Tim Dilena says the turn of events can be a beacon of hope for a city rocked by the economic recession.
"That characterizes Highland Park. To watch someone left for dead and watch him rise up and do something ... because that's what happened to our city," Dilena said. [clickondetroit.com, 11/1/09]
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