Flash tells his story...

Flash was a gunman's aim away from never having a chance to play in a college basketball game. According to Flash, back when he was running the streets, somebody he had beef with opened fire on him. A few shots zipped his way but only one hit him in the calf. Somehow Flash recovered to the point where at his dimunitive height (5'10) he could still dunk the ball with two hands a couple of years later. I once asked him what brand of cocoa butter lotion he was using because he had no trace of a scar on his calf.

God's grace is serious!

During that phase of Flash's life, he was also a purse snatcher until late one night a random old lady told him something that sent chills up his spine. After knocking off an elderly woman, he ran to a bus stop a couple of miles away to wait for his getaway ride (the city bus). As he sat there waiting, a "very grey haired woman" turned to him and said simply, "you will reap." He looked away for a second, then she was gone.

Flash was also the head of his own little crew. He ordered people to be beat up, and even devised plans for major heists.

Flash: I used to be on some stuff, yo. You expectin a lot from a nigga who used to run the streets, Coach. This whole school thing ain't even me.
Me: That's $1 in the nigga jar. I didn't twist your arm to be here, you know.. The effort you're putting out to change your life is admirable, but you need to be pushed. You lose focus.
Flash: I used to be about gettin dough, man. Name it, I done it. Drugs? Check. Guns? Check. If this one plan had gone through I woulda been in the dough fo real.
Me: Lemme guess. You tried to rob a bank?
Flash: Nah man.. Walgreens.
Me: Walgreens? What were you trying to do, steal all the Sudafed and sell it to the kids??? hahaha
Flash: See. I'm not even playin, Coach. I got the blueprints for that place. We was gonna run up in there and shake the place down.
Me: Are you for real?? You don't seem like the type to do that sorta thing.
Flash: That's who I was before. I'm tryin to do something different now so my son could look up to his dad, you know...