Participants:
Series Code: MIW
Program Code: MIW000076A
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00:01 Hi, I'm Dr. Kim Logan Nowlan
00:02 I'm Arthur Nowlan 00:04 And welcome to Making It Work. 00:07 ¤ ¤ 00:37 Kim, you know about all the different tragedies we've 00:42 heard with many of our guests and some of the difficulties 00:46 that they experienced. Well today we need to talk about some 00:50 of the things that recently happened to us and it was pretty 00:54 devastating. I think it caught both of us off guard, 00:58 what about you? 00:59 Oh definitely. What Arthur is speaking of on April 9, 2013 the 01:05 medical building where we've practiced now for 22 years 01:09 caught fire and burned completely to the ground. 01:13 It was devastating, it was shocking, it was so unexpected. 01:20 I had worked Sunday, Monday week before, no problem, but 01:26 Tuesday morning we received a call at 9:05 that there was 01:31 shooting in our building and hostages had been taken and our 01:36 building was on fire. 01:38 That was really, really devastating as you indicated. 01:42 I guess my question to you: Why did you move in in the first 01:47 place when you first opened the business, because you started 01:53 this business. Oh yes. But what made you move into that 01:57 community? Well, I didn't want to move into 01:59 that community. I had been prior in downtown Detroit in one of 02:04 the nice high-rise buildings but some things had happened. 02:08 I knew God was constantly speaking to me and the Lord 02:13 showed me a building. I was asleep. I saw the building and 02:17 I remember the scripture in the last days sons and daughters 02:21 will have visions and dream dreams. I saw the building clear 02:26 as day. I did everything I could to not travel that way. I went 02:30 over to the east side of Detroit and the Lord said, this is not 02:34 what I told you. I heard him just as clear. And then I drove 02:39 down Grand River and there was that exact building. I looked in 02:44 that community and there wasn't anything like with our _ 02:49 but I said I can't be in this community Lord, I've just 02:52 come from one of nicest buildings in the city of Detroit 02:56 But the Lord said this is where I want you to be. So I walked 03:00 in and the owners of the building were there and I 03:04 introduced myself. I didn't have a dime in the bank, nothing. 03:08 And the Lord told me to go. I told them what I wanted to do, 03:13 what type of practice I wanted to open and they told me to 03:17 move in. Man, that's amazing. So it was 03:20 like the Lord was leading you to that community. 03:23 Oh the Lord did lead me to that community. Again it was not 03:27 where I wanted to be. I have to be honest I had been very 03:29 bourgeoisie and I had been with the elite and the elite 03:32 and the elite addresses of the city of Detroit because that's 03:35 where I wanted to make all my money. It was all about money. 03:39 And it wasn't about the people. So moving in that community it 03:42 was going to impact my finances because I went through a 03:46 devastation where I had to move out of the Downtown area. 03:49 So the Lord was dealing with me like he dealt with Job and he 03:54 sat me down seven years, seven years to the day I found that 03:58 building. Seven years from the time that 04:00 you were downtown to the time that you went the building that 04:06 you chose. Seven years to the T. And I 04:09 remember going to my previous employer and I was a sex abuse 04:15 therapist. Went back to school, finished the doctorate and my 04:20 boss came and said Kim I want more hours from you. And I told 04:25 the Lord that night before, if my boss comes to me and asks 04:29 for more hours that was my sign. And I told her that day I'm 04:33 giving you my two week notice. And that was it. 04:36 Man that's amazing. What did you expect to accomplish in that 04:41 community? Well what I expected to 04:43 accomplish was really nothing. I went in there to blind myself 04:50 from what I saw outside that door. I didn't want to be 04:54 impacted by the outside community. I wanted to build up 04:58 my clientele, let them come in, let them go. But that was not 05:03 what God wanted. God wanted me to go door to door, God wanted 05:08 me to go out into the community and meet people, minister for 05:13 him and let people know that there was a servant, not here to 05:17 be served, but to serve them, and that's what God helped to 05:21 created in me. He remolded me. 05:24 In all actuality so people in the community eventually found 05:28 that you were there and they started coming. But you felt a 05:33 little uncomfortable. 05:34 I did because again I was in that bourgeoisie state and that 05:37 uppity state. I wanted a particular clientele like I 05:41 had downtown. And there were prostitutes, and there were 05:45 substance abusers, and there were people who didn't bathe, 05:49 there were people who were hungry. People who had terrible 05:53 odors and I was like this is not me. You know, I was used to a 05:58 different clientele. Babies without shoes, and people who 06:02 didn't bathe for two or three days. And the clinic was open. 06:07 People were free to come in and out. There was a dentist, a 06:11 podiatrist, a foot specialist, internal medicine, a pharmacy. 06:15 So you know we had a full practice with a pediatrician at 06:19 the time. There was an ophthalmologist, an eye 06:21 specialist. So it was a full practice. So I added to it by 06:25 being the psychologist, counselor and speech and 06:28 language pathologist and sign language working with the 06:32 hearing impaired. So they welcomed me because they didn't 06:35 have anyone in that area in the building. 06:38 It's so strange, because I remember when I first came in 06:40 contact with that building, I was wondering myself, wow, I was 06:46 thinking you should be downtown. Or you should be in the suburbs. 06:52 Right and I didn't want to be. Again the mindset. But for 22 06:57 years that's where God told me to stay and I wasn't going to 07:02 leave because until God told me to leave. So I guess I can 07:06 pose a question to you, Arthur. When we met, we dated, we 07:10 married I prayed for you as a social worker to join in 07:13 practice with me. 07:14 You know that's very good to know that you prayed for me 07:16 and God answered your prayer. You are so fortunate. 07:19 I am fortunate and I want the world to know how fortunate I am 07:22 You go girl. 07:23 But you joined my practice but why? You saw what the building 07:27 was, you saw the community. Why did you join my practice? 07:31 Because I could work with that clientele. I mean I worked with 07:36 substance abusers, I've been into some really, really dark 07:41 areas in the community within Detroit. So I had experience in 07:46 working with that. But I also realized that both of us 07:51 together could really, really make the business even more than 07:57 just from one perspective. From a clinical psychologist's 08:02 perspective adding a social worker would really give us an 08:06 opportunity to do more in the community and that's why I 08:11 wanted to. I wanted to help these people. I thought it 08:14 was really in 08:15 a prime location to address some of the issues that needed 08:19 to be addressed with the prostitutes, with the substance 08:22 abusers and with those that were having all types of issues; 08:26 domestic violence. But you know one thing that really impressed 08:31 me? Is when they start realizing that we were available to help 08:35 them, they came from everywhere. 08:38 God sent people from all over. Our clientele went I know from 08:42 a minimum to overwhelming and God just continued to open up 08:46 up a window. That scripture says he'll open up a window you won't 08:50 have room enough to receive it. And that's what God did because 08:53 people saw that we were genuine Arthur used to tease me 08:56 because I would now bring food and make sure there was water 09:00 and there were fruit snacks and vegetable snacks and there were 09:04 all kinds of things. People would come in. They would be 09:07 hungry and I would make sure the place was smelling good. People 09:10 needed to use the restroom and some of the doctors wouldn't let 09:14 the people use the restroom and I couldn't turn people away 09:16 because it could have been dangerous but I knew the angels 09:20 of heaven protected me. And people began to tell other 09:23 people, that lady in there, that couple in there, they're good 09:27 people. And I want to tell you something: for 22 years in the 09:31 inner city of Detroit, I'm telling you, not one time were 09:37 we robbed, was I attacked or our cars robbed or burglarized 09:42 And I would go in early in the morning, late at night, on 09:47 Sunday, sometimes Saturday night. 09:49 We would both be on many occasions the only ones in the 09:56 building during that whole time that we were servicing clients. 10:00 There was concern. Especially my concern was in the winter time 10:05 if I was called out to do some other work and you were in 10:09 that building. 10:11 And I still went and Arthur would be angry with me because 10:12 I had to go. I had to go. 10:14 But fortunately on many of those occasions the client would walk 10:20 out with you. 10:21 And that was a blessing. Very rarely I would leave out alone. 10:25 But sometimes I told them go on I would be okay, because I had 10:29 had to finish up and tidy up and write my notes out and 10:31 things. Sometimes I would leave them for the next day. But I do 10:35 believe that the challenges and the expectations were truly met. 10:39 I wasn't expecting this fire. This homicide and suicide to 10:45 take place there. Tragedy. Choices. But I do know for a 10:51 fact that people when they read our names in the newspaper and 10:54 they read it on the internet today, it's a good name, Kim 10:57 Logan Communication is a good name, is a strong name in this 11:01 community. 11:02 And I believe that what we experienced, we're both still 11:08 grieving from the whole entire situation. This is a situation 11:12 that does not just go away after a week or two weeks. 11:17 This recently happened on April 9 and we both lost a lot. I mean 11:22 We lost everything. I mean I lost 30 years of my whole 11:26 practice. Arthur lost everything he brought into the practice 15, 11:29 16 years ago. Everything is gone, gone, which you will see. 11:35 But not our lives. I just wanted to say that in losing everything 11:39 we didn't lose our lives. Now come with us as we go to the 11:45 site. Hi we're here on the site of our 11:49 previous location where we worked for 22 years here within 11:54 the community of Detroit on Grand River and Euclid. Arthur, 12:02 April 9, 2013 you had taken Erin to school and I received 12:08 a phone call from one of the other administrators in the 12:13 building that hostages had been taken and shooting was going on 12:17 in the building and then there were fires started. Now when 12:21 they told me that there were fires in the building, I had no 12:24 idea how destructive it would be. 12:26 Well it was quite baffling because here we are, we've been 12:32 in this location for quite a while. And when I took Erin to 12:37 school I got this call to indicate that the building was 12:41 on fire and that they were shooting and it was horrendous. 12:47 I was wondering if this was like a joke but it was reality. 12:54 Reality. But it was arson, murder, suicide that took place. 13:00 It was almost like a movie. 13:02 Yeah, so when I was walking down Grand River I thought I was in a 13:07 movie. It was not happening. Everything I've had and built 13:11 for 35 years of my private practice and 22 years here in 13:15 this building. And you had joined me because we had 13:17 become man and wife and then you joined me in my practice 13:21 and I mean everything gone. 13:24 Five doctors' practices gone. 13:27 Every single thing was burned and it's just so unfortunate, 13:32 but here we are now in front of this building where death 13:38 occurred. Yeah, two lives were taken. 13:40 And the most important thing that I got out of that, it was a 13:44 sinful relationship where a man who was already married and a 13:47 woman who was already married came together to have an affair 13:51 and when the woman wanted to end the affair, the man had 13:55 difficulty accepting that. So what he did was it was going 14:00 back and forth and going back and forth for a long period of 14:04 time, over a year and a half. but unfortunately it got to the 14:08 where death was the final outcome of the situation. 14:12 Now let me just tell you what was stated in the news and 14:17 throughout the media that she had taken a PPO out on him 14:21 because again she wanted to end the relationship, and he was a 14:26 former employee of the medical center and she was also an 14:30 employee here. Now after he had started stalking she was told in 14:36 order to maintain her job she had to get a PPO order. Now 14:42 that caused some difficulty for him. Then I was told that he 14:47 burned up her van. 14:50 Well you know we're talking about hearsay. 14:52 Hearsay, but it was also reported in the news and the 14:56 media and which caused her, because every action causes a 15:00 what, a reaction. Negative or positive. There are negative 15:04 consequences and positive and from there she had her boyfriend 15:10 her new boyfriend go and shoot his house. That was in the news. 15:16 Yeah, but once again, we have no proof of that. This is 15:19 speculation, and speculation on the writer's part who reported 15:23 that. The unfortunate thing is, Kim, as you indicated, we're 15:27 talking about one incident in the female's home where her TVs were 15:32 stolen and her van was burned. Another incident in the male's 15:37 home where his house was shot up and the night before the fire, 15:43 that was Monday night, his house was shot up and his retaliation 15:48 was to come back and wait for this woman to come to work. 15:52 And he waited and he plotted and he had saturated some of the 15:56 areas in the clinic, especially our area because we had not 15:59 arrived. Right. And it was totally saturated with gasoline 16:03 and that's why the building burned so quickly and so from 16:07 there he let the other hostages go and he took her, killed her, 16:13 set the fires, and then came back and killed himself. 16:17 But another thing in relationship to that, 16:21 they said that this gentleman not only came the morning of, 16:26 but he came the night before the incident. Once again we're 16:31 about this situation causing a travesty, where five doctors, 16:37 30 employees were out of work and displaced because of this 16:42 situation. Now we're talking about rebuilding but God always 16:47 has a ram in the bush. Yes he does. No matter what this 16:53 incident was about, no matter how it occurred the Lord stepped 16:58 in and he renewed our strength and gave us the opportunity to 17:03 relocate. Now I'm going to let you tell where we relocated to. 17:08 I'm hoping we're going to get a shot of that building where we 17:12 are now and what God has done, but... Twenty-five years ago, 17:16 I got to tell this testimony. I wanted to be in a particular 17:21 but the Lord said I wasn't ready and he showed me this building 17:25 in a vision. He showed it to me. And I said, Lord you have to be 17:30 kidding me. And the inner community and the blight wasn't 17:34 as bad as it is today. But I said Lord come on. Since I had 17:39 just recently come out of the Penobscott Building, another 17:43 building in Detroit. So from that the Lord said this is where 17:49 I want you to be. And for 22 years meeting the underserved 17:53 helping those who did not have making sure that those in the 17:58 community had food to eat, they had other items that they needed 18:03 for their families to survive. So now we are located not too 18:08 far still in the community but in the new development where 18:12 they're developing in the new Spinster area, the Fisher 18:16 building in Detroit, Michigan. 18:19 And it is beautiful down there. Fabulous. We have a new side 18:22 and we have an older side and we're in the older side where 18:25 the mosaic masonry work and marble and it is just 18:32 outstanding. This building was erected in 1928 and the building 18:39 has a theater in it and it's just a sight to see. So God 18:45 lifted the whole situation up, lifted us up and He placed us 18:50 where He wanted us to be and through His grace and His mercy 18:55 no harm nor danger came to us, none, no injuries occurred, none 19:00 and it was all because Erin was late for school and I had to 19:04 take her to school which caused you to be late as well as myself 19:08 Right and the thing about it is you know we were fussing. 19:11 No I wasn't. 19:13 I was, you didn't say a word, you didn't. And I was like Erin 19:17 come on you know Daddy's going to be upset. But it was like the 19:23 Holy Spirit told her to take her time. Yes. And not move. And I'm 19:28 telling you at 9:05 I received a call. At 9:31 I was walking in 19:33 front of this building. About a quarter to 10 all I could do 19:37 was put my arms out to my husband and he hugged me. 19:40 I'm telling you, this is why you got to know the Lord. Because 19:46 if you don't know the Lord you will lose your mind. 19:48 It was an eerie feeling passing the fire trucks and remember 19:53 one of the reasons that the building burned so quickly was 19:58 because there was no water to be pumped and the fire hydrant 20:03 is right in front of the building. That fire hydrant 20:06 didn't work so they had to stream hoses all the way down to 20:11 another block and then also the police would not let them put 20:16 the fire out because they felt it was too dangerous for the 20:20 firemen because they didn't know where the shooter was. So they 20:24 kind of held them back and one of the statements that was in 20:28 the newspaper they indicated, let it burn. Let it burn. 20:32 Ah when I read that man, I heard that my heart sunk. How could 20:38 they just let it burn. 20:40 But Arthur also this is why the Bible says we should not, we 20:45 cannot put our treasures here on this earth. We cannot hold onto 20:49 things because it's all going to burn. Ours just burned a little 20:52 bit sooner. 20:54 Yeah, but I wasn't ready for it. 20:56 I wasn't ready but for whatever reason God said, I'm going to 20:59 test you and I'm going to try you in fire to come out like 21:01 pure gold. 21:03 That's why we have to be in one accord in everything that we do. 21:07 We, as Christians, have to prepare ourselves for what God 21:11 has in store for us. And when it comes to a point when we deal 21:15 with tragedy and when we deal with it with the support of our 21:19 community, our Christian community, it's gets easier and 21:22 it's better. That's why we had so many people from all over the 21:28 country that heard about and read this story that got in 21:32 contact with us and they wanted to extend support in whatever 21:36 way we needed it and that was truly a blessing for us. 21:40 I tell you the scripture trust in the Lord with all thy heart 21:44 and lean not to thine own understanding, in all thy ways 21:47 acknowledge him and he will direct your path. And I'm like 21:50 Lord I don't know what you're doing, I don't know why this has 21:53 happened. I mean, we serve the Lord, we keep the Sabbath, we 21:57 return our tithes and offerings, we're busy doing things for the 22:01 Lord, we're here serving on 3ABN Dare to Dream and then we lose 22:06 everything. But we didn't lose our lives. 22:07 Well you know the most important thing is, as you indicated, we 22:13 didn't lose our lives. 22:15 We did not lose our lives. And God said I am going to preserve 22:19 you and he said if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me. 22:24 Absolutely. And God is so good. You may have gone through a 22:28 fire, you may be experiencing something right now and you 22:32 don't know how God's going to take you through it, but God 22:35 will take you through it. You just trust him. 22:38 And we're at a point now where we don't have any alternative 22:42 but to trust God. 22:44 Right. We don't have a pencil, rubber band, we had a pad, 22:49 everything, our files are all destroyed, 35 years of files, 22:54 medical records gone. And I had just redecorated the office. 23:00 Yes, and we're moving slow at trying to get our clients back 23:06 and all those things that take time. So it's a process. So we 23:12 got a space so we're just trying to do whatever is necessary to 23:17 get our people acquainted with the fact that we're at a new 23:21 location. So we might have to do some marketing. 23:24 Yeah, I'm thinking about the type of marketing we're going to 23:28 have to do. But a lot of our patients and clients have been 23:31 faithful because they've been with us so long and they are 23:35 following us, they're coming right with us. 23:37 Yes so this is an ordeal. Let me just say this. You never would 23:46 think it would happen to you. Right. You never would think 23:50 that out of the clear blue sky, something like this, this 23:55 tragedy. Look at this. I mean people's lives, five doctors' 24:00 offices, 30 employees and some of the employees are really 24:04 in the process of trying to find out what do they do next. 24:09 But God is in control, but no matter what has happened, he's 24:15 going to get the victory out of this situation. 24:17 What Satan meant for bad God has already turned it into good. 24:20 And all we can do is pray for the families of the victims, 24:24 pray for those who are impacted by this, all of us. 24:27 This community has been impacted by this because this medical 24:32 clinic served this community. People could walk here, it was 24:37 on a bus line. It was always busy. We would be here 8 o'clock 24:41 in the morning to 10 o'clock at night. And let me tell you, God 24:45 always protected us because we were serving his people. We were 24:49 taking care of him. Even though it was not the best neighborhood 24:53 and Arthur would sometimes say Kim you can't be in that 24:57 building. I would be there alone Arthur would be there alone but 25:00 we still met the needs of the people. But God blessed me to 25:04 be able to walk out with other couples. We would have couples 25:08 at the end of the day and I would leave out with them. 25:10 But I'm just here to tell you that I'm not done crying, it's 25:15 very hard but I'm not crying over the material things, I'm 25:20 crying over the lives and how it impacted all of us. 25:24 But through the grace of God, once again, we're here and we 25:29 know that the Lord has something special for us to do. So we ask 25:33 for your prayers. We ask that you continue to contact us and 25:37 let us know and give us the support to just encourage us. 25:42 That's all we need. We need encouragement because this is 25:46 truly an ordeal. 25:47 I want to think everyone. I want to thank Dare to Dream 3ABN 25:52 for this opportunity to tell our own story. You know we interview 25:56 so many people but now it's about us and our producers 26:02 Ray and Debbie Young, Xiran. There's just so many wonderful 26:06 it's not just us. It's God and the team effort, but I just want 26:10 to let you know that we're going to keep holding on to God's 26:14 unchanging hands. So this is where it started, where I 26:18 started my practice as a graduate of Oakwood College 26:22 University, Wayne State University and now here I am. 26:27 But now God said I'm going to take you a little higher on the 26:31 other side of town. 26:32 More rent though, we have to pay more money. More money, but 26:36 it's all good. So God bless you. Thank you for joining us on 26:39 Making It Work. God bless. |
Revised 2018-03-05