Steve’s Hit List

Being Sicilian, you might wonder if I’ve ever been involved with a hit on someone. Actually, I have—in fact, several. My Sicilian grandfather, Mateo Bombaci, got me into the family business.

In truth, I never had any intentions of getting involved with something like this. I was a good kid—not perfect—but I kept my nose clean and went about my business. My grandfather didn’t force me into the family business, but he talked about it a lot. Whenever he did, there was a glistening in his eyes—something almost transcendent.

I resisted the temptation to get into the business, but at age 19 I finally gave in. My grandfather told me a good hit required more than one person. I asked him why, and he said, “If you do it by yourself, things tend to get messy. The best partner to have is the Holy Spirit.”

By the time I was in college, my grandfather had several hits to his credit. Some of them were family members. Some were business associates. Behind every hit there was a good story. Some people never saw it coming—those were my grandfather’s favorites. My grandfather never threatened anyone, but he let them know that without Jesus, they might be swimming with the fishes.

One of my first hits took place when I was in my early twenties. Eddie was his name—my step-grandfather. Eddie liked to harass me about my faith. When I defended myself and told him about Jesus, he blew cigarette smoke in my face and laughed at me. I didn’t like the way he treated me, so I put a hit on him. It took several years, but one day I heard the news—Eddie committed his life to Jesus. I was thrilled to have the first hit under my belt.

I rode that high for a while, but before long I decided to plan out my next hit. They say you always remember your first. Eddie was my first, but after that, I’m not sure. I had several people on my hit list, and one by one they committed their lives to Jesus. Don’t get me wrong—some of those hits took years and some even took decades, but the hits were effective.

I can’t take too much credit for those hits. My aim is okay, but the Holy Spirit never misses. His work is clean and eternal. My kids knew I was in the business, but I didn’t put any pressure on them. I just went about my business with my partner, the Holy Spirit, knocking people off one by one.

I have a feeling my kids are eventually going to follow in my footsteps. When they do, I’ll give them the same advice my grandfather gave me. I would tell you everything my grandfather told me—but then I’d have to, well, you know!

I just recently added a couple of people to my hit list. If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, you might just be on that list.

Capeesh?

Steve