2015-04-02
Faith keeps Pampa police officer strong after shooting and family tragedies
Posted: April 5, 2015 - 9:54pm
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Eboni Graham / Amarillo Globe-News
Jessica Gass, left, and Pampa Police Sgt. Houston Gass, talk about various things while waiting for Gass to give his testimony at the 10:45 a.m. Easter Sunday service at the River Road Campus of Paramount Baptist Church, 8605 River Road.
By Eboni Graham
If anyone ever felt like giving up on life, or held any feelings of resentment towards God, it should be Pampa Police Sgt. Houston Gass.
As the officer shared his testimony with the members of the River Road campus of Paramount Baptist Church on Easter Sunday morning, he revealed that Bible verse Exodus 14:14 is the reason why he doesn’t.
“The Holy Spirit just hit me with it one day when I was reading my Bible,” Gass, said. “It really overwhelmed me how good God really is to us because all we gotta do is say his name, and he’s there. He’s fighting for us.”
And what a fight Gass, 36, has had, and is still going through.
It’s been three months since Gass was shot on Jan. 6. Many know of that story of Gass’s life, but his testimony is much deeper than the 2015 incident, which is why Micah Meurer wanted him to share it with his congregation.
“Years ago, I taught in a college ministry in Pampa when our paths crossed,” said Meurer, 41, River Road campus pastor of Paramount Baptist Church. “I would meet with Houston on Friday mornings when I lived in Pampa, and that’s when I learned his story.”
As a young child, Gass learned to deal with tragedy when his older sister Kimberly “Kim” Kendall was killed in 1990.
“It’s been one day at a time with all that I had to go through,” Gass said.
Prior to and after getting shot, Gass doesn’t remember much of anything except for writing down Exodus 14:14 on a board while at the University Medical Center in Lubbock for his pastor Dallas Stringer of Calvary Baptist Church in Pampa to read to him.
Exodus 14:14 states, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
“At that point, he couldn’t talk, and that’s all he could do was be quiet,” said Gass’ wife Jessica Gass, 32.
“It was very powerful for us after Dallas read that verse.”
So why that verse?
“It’s something that has just stayed with me over the last couple of years,” Gass said. “From going through a divorce to watching my father die of terminal cancer, having a sister commit suicide and all of that occurred within a four-month time span.”
A wave of gasps was heard through the church as Gass continued to elaborate on each incident.
Greg Palmer, 50, a member of the River Road campus of Paramount Baptist, is amazed how Gass has been able to handle the events in his life in addition to being shot in the line of duty, Palmer said.
“When you hear Houston’s full testimony,” Palmer said.
“Everything that he’s been through from the murder of his sister when he was very young, to the suicide of his other sister, and the loss of his father ... for that man to have overcome all of those things not only physically, but spiritually —— to see his faithfulness and strength that comes from his belief in Jesus Christ is really inspiring to everyone and to me especially.”
While Gass was in the hospital, he received an outpour of support from people as far as India and throughout West Texas.
“When he was a bit more aware, we showed him that Facebook page that was made for him, ‘Lights On’ for Sgt. Gass,” Jessica Gass said. “He would get teary-eyed and cry. It’s pretty overwhelming.”
Although much of the first few days in the hospital are a blur, Houston Gass said he vividly remembers the morning of Jan. 6.
“It didn’t feel right. Something just didn’t feel right,” he said. “It had a whole different feel to it. I just had a bad feeling.”
Gass was called into work early that Tuesday morning, before he and other officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at 529 N. Nelson St.
“We were scared because we didn’t know what was about to happen,” Gass said. “I remember standing outside the door, and I was breathing heavy.”
Just before 11 a.m., Gass sustained a facial wound in the living room of the residence and was pulled to safety by fellow officers.
Gass was taken to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo and transferred to University Medical Center in Lubbock, where the Lubbock Police Department provided 24-hour security while at the center, Jessica Gass said.
“I went into survival mode,” she said. “Those first couple of days he was in ICU, people said I had a blank stare on my face, a ‘deer in headlights’ look. I can understand, I was not sleeping, and I definitely was not about to leave the hospital.”
The people who Gass thinks of most are his three children, who are seven-, four- and three years-old.
“I’ve always talked with the kids that something could happen, and daddy might not get to come home,” Gass said. “They always knew that that was part of it.”
If there was ever a day that he didn’t come home, there would be many more for when he did, Gass said.
“I made sure they knew that I wasn’t going to leave them,” he said.
“I think they believe me now.”
In March, a grand jury indicted Ryan John Kelley, 29, on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault against a public servant and methamphetamine possession.
Gass still has a long road to full recovery as he still needs dental and facial reconstruction, in addition to other surgeries.
Gass has returned to work part-time. He’s looking forward to one day returning to the field.
“Oh yeah, I absolutely want to go back to doing what I love,” he said. “I got a lot of fears. It’s a scary world, and we (cops) deal with scary things, but it’s what I love doing.”