I Met the Messiah Yesterday

@moffittjc (128835)
Gainesville, Florida
April 21, 2016 6:41am CST
I met the Messiah yesterday afternoon. Except his name wasn't Jesus, it was Tyrone, a local homeless man. Around 4:00pm yesterday, we heard what sounded like loud footsteps on the roof of our building. We're used to hearing the pitter-patter of squirrels, but this was a much heavier sound. Several of us walked outside to investigate, and upon looking up at the roof from the parking lot, we found the Messiah--uh, I mean Tyrone--walking around shouting that he came to save the world. We work in a 3-story building, and the roof is not a flat roof, but a very steep angled one. We are not sure how he was able to get up there, as when we walked the perimeter of the building, we could not identify any easy way he could have gotten up there. Anyway, we called the police and the fire department to come get him down. We were concerned that he might try to jump (or fly in his case, since he thought he was the Messiah). The fire department was able to get him down off the roof without any incident, as he seemed willing to come down (they used a ladder truck to get to where he was on the roof). But when he got down to the ground, he started shouting again, yelling over and over, "I am the Messiah, I am the Messiah." He then proceeded to start banging his fists on all the cars in the parking lot. The two police officers who responded tried to calm him down and get him to cooperate, but when he wouldn't comply, they had to subdue him. Apparently, our Messiah Tyrone had superhuman strength, as the two officers could not subdue him (and he was a pretty scrawny guy). Backup was called in, and after five additional officers arrived, Tyrone was able to be subdued. Because of his bizarre actions and combative attitude toward the police officers, they considered him a threat to the safety of others, so they Baker Acted him, which meant they were able to arrest him, take him to jail, and call in special mental health counselors to deal with him. It was an interesting day yesterday, to say the least. Between learning of the death of a close friend in a plane crash, and meeting the Messiah on the roof of our building, I had quite the crazy day! Have you ever had to deal with a weird situation like this?
10 people like this
7 responses
@mommaj (23112)
• United States
21 Apr 16
Wow! You did have an interesting day. Can't say I ever met Messiah. I met many people who evidently lost Jesus because they asked if I had found him.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
23 Apr 16
That's funny! I've had many people ask me if I've found Jesus as well! I never thought of a smart-a$$ comeback like that! I'll have to remember that for next time!
1 person likes this
@mommaj (23112)
• United States
23 Apr 16
@moffittjc Yes... your response should be "Why did you lose him?" I grew up presbyterian, went to a methodist church for a little. My great grandfather was a Brethern preacher.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 Apr 16
@mommaj I call myself a "mutt" of the Protestant Church. Growing up, I went to a Lutheran private school, attended a Baptist Church, and belonged to a Boy Scout troop sponsored by the Methodist Church. For years I attended a non-denominational church, but now I alternate my time between a local Methodist church and a non-denominational church.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Apr 16
Yes, all too often. My daughter had the habit of bringing stay people home with her. Then she expected me to solve their problems (there were always problems). It was, and still it, really unpleasant. At least now, she is bringing strays into her own home, several states away, instead of into mine.
2 people like this
@pgiblett (6524)
• Canada
25 Apr 16
I like your description of the messiah, a scrawny guy, very appropriate. I have seen some weird people like this, probably every town has them. In fact the very guy you describe was walking around the tourist areas here last year, late on a Saturday night, just when everyone was going out to enjoy themselves, using the crossroads as his pulpit.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 Apr 16
We see the same thing happen in the middle of our downtown every weekend...a lot of Bible-thumpers will be out on the street corners trying to preach to all the college kids heading out to the bars for a night of fun!
1 person likes this
@pgiblett (6524)
• Canada
26 Apr 16
@moffittjc Oh I was thinkig of the local bum rather than the god squad, but they are there as well.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 Apr 16
@pgiblett is there a difference between the two? lol Haha, I know what you mean! We actually have both types on the street corners on Friday and Saturday nights. I guess with thousands of college kids hitting the bars for the weekend, they figure they have an easy audience to work with!
1 person likes this
• Eugene, Oregon
23 Apr 16
No quite that weird, thankfully. Maybe the "Messiah" was on some speed or something? Hard to believe two cops could not take him down with pepper spray or something.
1 person likes this
• Eugene, Oregon
24 Apr 16
@moffittjc I hope not. It sounds as if he was combative. it would different is they were going to shoot him.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (22245)
• United States
26 Apr 16
No, But I did have a cat on my roof one time. At least now he can get help that he needs.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Apr 16
That reminds me of when I was a little kid. Our cat would always get up on the roof of our house and get stuck up there! I remember my dad always having to go up there and get him down.
1 person likes this
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
14 Feb 20
@moffittjc What a crazy day indeed! I wonder how Tyrone is doing nowadays. Hopefully he is doing alright. I haven't really seen / heard anything like this in person before but I've seen it a lot in movies or on the news ( not often on the news ). But even those fear mongering people who claim the world is going to end is what annoys me. Seen / heard way too many of those kinds of stories.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Feb 20
I just ignore those doomsday weirdos that are always preaching about our impending doom. People have been claiming for thousands of years that they know when the end of the world will come. Well, we’re all still here, so it means 100% of them have been wrong!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Feb 20
@VivaLaDani13 Of course they would say "told you so." They have to vindicate themselves somehow for all the times they were wrong.
1 person likes this
• Perth, Australia
15 Feb 20
@moffittjc Exactly! But I can bet you that say if the world was coming to an end right now, those are the types of people who would be saying "I told you so!" Even after so many times of them being wrong, I feel they would go all cocky if it was finally true.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
21 Apr 16
I used to watch Jesus dancing to heavy rock in his room at uni. That's my Messiah story. Yours is so much better. :)
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
23 Apr 16
I don't know, I've never seen Jesus dance, so you might have a pretty good story to tell! Was he a good dancer at least?