08/25/2017
Some of you knew Mandy Annis, the teacher from Humboldt Community Christian School who was killed on her bike at Kedzie and Armitage in April, 2008. It was devastating to us and of course to her family and to the young man whose car hit her. Mandy's mother's just sent me this note. Praise God for his work in the young man's life.
" I wanted to let you know that the young man who hit and killed Mandy has become a believer. He called my husband, John, in February to ask forgiveness. They talked for at least an hour, and John shared the gospel with him, and prayed with him to receive Christ.
We were in Chicago a couple of weeks ago and went out to lunch with him. He said that not a day has gone by that he hasn't thought about Mandy and the accident. He especially thinks about her on holidays and what she would be doing with us, and he feels guilty that he was responsible for taking her away from us. We told him again that he had been forgiven from the start. Mandy is more alive now than we are . We told him we don't want him to be carrying that weight of guilt around. God has used this awful event for good. The man's grandfather was a believer, and John and I believe that God answered his grandfather's prayers through this.
He is an EMT/paramedic with the Chicago fire department. I told him that he is one of the bravest men I have ever met. He called us out of the blue to ask forgiveness not knowing how we would respond. We could have absolutely blasted him out of the water, and he knew that, but he called anyway.
It was a horrible accident, and I wish with all that is within me that it hadn't happened. I am glad that God let us have a glimpse of His redemption of this situation, and let us become acquainted with him. He's a good guy with a great deal of potential. We've been working at getting him hooked up with a couple of different pastors in Chicago who seem to have good ministries. They both have ministries working with Chicago youth, which he is very interested in.
Take care, Lynn Annis"