The following article is from the front page of the Keys Section of the Miami Herald Newspaper in 1997 when the Florida Highway Patrol chased me for 40 miles. I was driving through the Florida Keys that night and had my sunroof open and I was angry because I was addicted to drugs and could not stop using them. I was headed for the 7-mile bridge and wanted to hit the crest of that bridge at 150 MPH to see what would happen. At 29 years old I was already sick and tired of being addicted and I could not take all the devastation it had caused and I was ready to end it all. I was yelling out of the car through the open sunroof, “GOD, YOU MADE ME LIKE THIS. IT IS YOUR FAULT THAT I AM THIS WAY!” Well, God had other plans for me than me trying to jump my car off that bridge. Just before I reached the bridge, the police set up a road block with stinger spikes that would flatten my tires. I did not make it to the bridge and I was arrested…
THE MIAMI HERALD
Miami Herald, The (FL)
March 22, 1997
DEPUTIES USE SPIKES TO STOP FLEEING CAR ON U.S. 1 DRIVER REACHED TOP SPEED OF 136 MPH
Author: Herald Keys Bureau
Edition: Keys
Section: Local
Page: 1B
Dateline: MARATHON
Estimated printed pages: 1
Article Text:
Metal spikes stopped a motorist driving erratically down U.S. 1 at speeds up to 136 mph early Friday.
Charles Bowen, 29, of Palm Beach Gardens refused to stop his car for Monroe deputies at mile marker 89. At that time, he was traveling 71 mph in a 45 mph zone, deputies said.
Bowen was also seen passing in no passing zones and turn lanes, said Deputy Becky Herrin, sheriff’s spokeswoman.
Deputies radioed colleagues down the road, telling them to look out for the 1997 Infiniti, Herrin said. Deputies put out stinger spikes — metal spikes embedded in a rubber strip that poke holes in tires small enough to make the car stop without hurting the driver — to stop Bowen at U.S. 1 and Coco Plum Road in Marathon.
He was charged with fleeing and eluding police, driving under the influence of alcohol, possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, and reckless driving.
In the Infiniti were beer and wine bottles and a pipe with crack cocaine residue, Herrin said.
Copyright (c) 1997 The Miami Herald
Record Number: 9703240151
Fast forward to 2014. I have been released from prison for the second time and this time I have surrendered my life to Jesus and He set me free and I am loving my new life in Christ. I am driving down the highway and began to feel God’s presence in the car with me and I began to weep. I began worshiping Him and praising Him and yelling out loud that He was so Good! Then I heard Him say, “NO….I MADE YOU LIKE THIS!”
God waited 17 years to respond to me yelling out of that Infiniti driving through the Florida Keys at 136 MPH back in 1997. God is patient and His love endures forever. He will never leave you or forsake you and He is with you through the good times and the bad. I love Jesus. Please give Him a chance to change your life like He did mine. You can even yell at God if you are mad about your life. Just don’t expect an answer until you are ready to surrender that old life to Him so He can change it!
I love you and pray you too can find the Freedom you search for. In Jesus name! Amen.
~ Evangelist Charles “Michael” Bowen