Before I tell my story, those of you that know me are aware that I do not post things lightly, nor do I share things without really, really thinking about it and the impact it might have on others or what light it might shed on my personal beliefs. I think some things should be kept personal and away from public scrutiny. I rarely say anything that will start a fight or heated debate on any social media sites – or in person for that matter. But today I have experienced something so profound that I feel compelled to tell it to everyone possible. I have a message. It was given directly to me and now I am going to share it with you.
I am an educated person. I have two scientific degrees. I am also a person who believes in the power of God. Contradictory maybe, but if you really look at the universe and all that is in it, can you deny that there is a simplicity to the complexity, as well as a uniform cohesiveness to the worlds we know and the events that transpire within?
God works in our lives in so many small ways that we sometimes forget that he can work huge miracles. Huge happened to us just less than 24 hours ago.
My son drives a 2001 Ford F150 Super Crew Cab XLT which weighs approximately 5,031 pounds. It has a lift kit and big meaty tires. The rear axle weight is approximately 2,250 pounds. Without going into gruesome detail, last night around midnight my son ended up with both legs pinned – one leg actually UNDER the other – beneath one of the large rear tires on his truck.
His first frantic call was to me, and I felt in my heart that it might be the last time I would be talking to my child. His second call was to 911.
After hanging up with my son, I called 911 myself. After getting reassurance that my son had gotten through to them and that lots of help was on the way (that was their words exactly), I called my family and told them what was happening. Then, I started reaching out via text and cell phone calls to ask for prayers for my son. I had never, ever felt so helpless and such crushing sorrow. My son was trapped under a vehicle, miles away from home, and the only thing that I could do was to go wait at the hospital, ask for prayers, and to start praying myself.
Everyone that I had contacted reached out to others, and the prayer chain started even before help arrived at the scene. Voices and thoughts cried out my son’s name, lifting him up in prayer, pleading with the Lord for his sake, asking for life and grace and peace and escape from the trauma.
After he was finally extricated, I received a call from EMS that he was out from under the truck, was conscious and aware, but that he probably had internal injuries and two broken legs. Bad news, but he was alive, and they would be transporting him as soon as possible after getting him as stable as they could before moving him.
What seemed like an eternity later, the staff at the emergency room told me that my son had arrived there at the hospital. The doctor came out and said that there was no internal bleeding. However, he was pretty sure both legs were broken, but they were waiting on the radiologist to examine the x-rays and give a firm diagnosis. I was to remain in the waiting area and could not yet see my child.
I paced and fidgeted and prayed. Voices, prayers, and thoughts continued to lift up my child, some local and some from thousands of miles away. Friends near and far participated, talking to their personal higher power, or the universe, or the almighty. God, in his infinite kindness and wisdom, heard them all.
The doctor came back out a while later and escorted me to my son’s room, all the while telling me that he didn’t know how, but there were no broken bones and no internal injuries. The only thing he was worried about was compartmental syndrome (swelling with nowhere to go, which has to be surgically remedied) and that they would be monitoring his CK blood levels for several hours to make sure surgical intervention wasn’t needed. In the meantime, I could stay with my son. Suffice it to say, it was a long night, but his tests continued to show improvements in his blood levels.
That weight and pressure for 20 minutes in the position he was in should have at the minimum broken both legs and crushed his soft tissues to a pulp. EMS was dispatched almost immediately, but my child was pinned under that truck for 20 minutes in the ice and snow with 1,125 pounds of pressure grinding down on his lower extremities, the truck still in gear and trying to move. At the worst, he should be in a wheelchair for life or even dead. How the truck didn’t continue to roll right up his body and crush him completely is mind boggling to say the least.
OK, folks, so here is the punchline. As I type this he is actually playing video games on the couch. Yes, he is very, very sore and will have to be on pain medication for a while. Yes, there is swelling and he has to be monitored closely for the next couple of days for complications. Yes, he is limping very badly and has to use crutches. BECAUSE OF THE POWER OF PRAYER and the grace of God my son came home today just eight hours after being trapped under half a ton of machinery for twenty minutes with nothing but a sheet of ice beneath him.
There is no other explanation. The gracious Lord spared my son. 20 minutes trapped under a huge truck tire with that kind of weight on stacked legs, you cannot tell me that there was not divine intervention. God has intervened in so many small ways in our lives and on our behalf so many times, but I forgot (I am only human) that he is willing to intervene in the huge things as well. Today was a huge, huge thing and I was compelled to share.
And I should not have to say this, but I will to try to prevent backlash and accusations. I could not contact everyone in my circle or my son’s circle – as you can imagine I was in panic mode. Some of you will hear about the incident right here for the first time, and if that makes you angry, I apologize.