09 April 30, 2014

I have escaped death several times in my life. The first time was before I was born. My mother could have opted for an abortion. She chose to allow me to live and put me up for adoption. I have never met my birth mother but I do know I will see her in heaven.

I am the youngest of eight children. All of us were adopted. Non of us are related. In 1970 when I was nine, my parents took our family on a camping trip through Europe.

The first time I almost got creamed by a car was at the bus stop outside our campground in Florence, Italy. All my family had crossed the street ahead of me as I straggled behind several yards. I started to cross the street when all my family started screaming something at me. I stopped in my tracks because I had no idea what they were yelling at me. Suddenly there was a red flash, a loud roar and a rush of wind just inches in front of me. I quickly looked up and down the street and there was nothing there. The car had gone by so quickly I never saw it coming or going. Just the red flash, roar, and wind. I was in shock as my mom grabbed me in her arms and didn’t let go for what seemed like ages.



Trevi Fountain, Rome

The second time I almost got crushed was in Rome. We had camped outside of the city and took the city bus (it was a VW bus) into see the ruins and St Peters Basilica over a few day period. On one day we were going to see the Trevi Fountains. I was crossing the street behind my dad when I heard a screech of brakes. A VW bug had come to a stop less than six inches from my right leg. My mom had gone ahead of us and was already at the fountains so my dad and I both agreed that was a close one and continued on to catch up with the rest of the family.

Another time I almost committed suicide. I was in college in Southern California. During one of the summer breaks I had a job at a gas station back in the days when full service was still popular and gas prices had increased to whopping 75¢ a gallon. Full service was 80¢. I partied a lot and did as much drinking as I could for a twenty year old. I met some girls at the gas station and they invited me to a party not far from where I lived. That evening as I got plastered drunk, I met the sister of one of the girls. She just got back home from college in Massachusetts. Her name was Jenny Winslow. There was something really different about her. She had a calm spirit. There was a peace about her that I had never experienced before. I also noticed that she was nursing one beer all night long. I don’t think she ever finished it.

A few days later I saw Jenny again at the gas station. I asked her if she wanted to see this new movie called Star Wars. She agreed and that began a summer that was a life changer. You see, we went out all the time except for Wednesday night or Sunday morning. She was active in a church and would not compromise on those times. I never drank when we were together.

Summer passed and we went back to our universities. We wrote each other every so often. My grades in school were horrible. I could not pass a class no matter how hard I studied. I didn’t know until my late 40's that I was full blown ADHD. As far as my parents were concerned I was lazy and not doing any studying. They were going to stop paying for my college unless my grades improved. Although I learned the material, the pressure from my parents to do well caused my brain to shut down when taking a test. I became very depressed. In my anatomy class I figured out what part of my brain I would have to blow out if I wanted to make certain I died when I shot myself. That is the only class I did well in. I felt alone and had nobody to talk to. I had almost saved enough money to buy a gun. That was when I heard Gods voice audibly for the second time in my life. I was calling out to God for help when I heard Him say out loud to me, “Write Jenny”.

I wrote a letter to Jenny. I didn’t know how much good the letter would do, but I did know that she was in good standing with God. There was a purity about her when we hung out all summer. I told her I was about to kill myself. I didn’t know what she could do but she was the only person I could tell about it. A few days later I notice the depression was lifting. Something in me was different. About ten days after writing I received her reply. She said she had her prayer group at her school start praying for me immediately. She also passed the urgent request to every one she knew. She said God had a plan for my life and I should trust Him. The prayers she initiated changed the course of my life. I saw her once the following summer but she was too busy to spend any time with me. Her family moved from the town we grew up in and I never saw or heard from her again. She doesn't know that a few years later I received Christ into my life. It was her unconditional acceptance that started my walk towards my Fathers home.




Lake Arrowhead, CA

Shortly after accepting Jesus was the next time I almost got killed. My dad had a cabin at Lake Arrowhead and I was taking some vacation time to soak up some sun and do some fishing. I drove over to Green Valley Lake where it was next to impossible to not catch your limit on trout. It was stocked often.

 The day I went fishing it rained most of the day. I caught more trout in the rain than any other time. However, that day I caught nothing and was soaked to the bone. On my way back to Lake Arrowhead I got caught behind a slow motor home. The road was narrow and had many blind turns. I got fed up because my Honda CVCC could hug the curves at 60 miles an hour and I was only going about 15. I was the fourth car behind and nobody was passing. I decided to go for it. I passed all the cars with ease. As I passed the motor home I gave the driver the finger and cussed loud enough for him to hear me. As soon as I got back in the lane the road took a sharp turn.

 

I was doing close to 50 at that time when I heard a bang in the back of my car. My right rear tire just blew out. I lost control as it began to spin around heading for the edge of the road. Time slowed dramatically and I was able to count the spins that only took a few moments. I heard a calm voice in the back seat of my car. It said “You're not going to die”. It was weird but the terror suddenly turned to peace. I took my hands off the steering wheel and my foot off the brake. As the car completed the third spin it was heading directly off the cliff. I was at 5500 feet in elevation and it was 3000 feet to the bottom. In those days there were no guard rails. Just as my front wheels were about to go off the edge the car stopped without a sound. It didn't hit any thing. It just stopped. If I had gone off I could have easily rolled for more than 1000 feet before stopping. My only explanation for why it stopped is that an angel grabbed my car and stopped it.

A few days later my roommate came to spend the weekend at the cabin and do some fishing. On the way to Green Valley Lake I showed him the place where it happened. He looked at the skid marks on the road and I showed him where the car finally stopped. He could tell by the skid marks that I was telling the truth about my speed and the fact that the car stopped at all was impossible. The next week he went to church with me and asked Jesus into his heart.

 

I don’t know why I write what I do. I just follow my heart. I believe the message here is for us to love those around us. Don't judge people as Jenny did not judge me. She was willing to hang out with me. She never preached at me or even asked if I wanted to go to bible study with her. When I had a life and death crisis in my life, she made herself available in the only way possible for her at the time. I am sure if she were in Southern California she would have been at my side. She couldn’t be. All she could do was pray. And that is what changed the course of my life.

 

Don't compromise who you are in Christ. Love others like Jesus loved others. Hang out with the sinners as Jesus did. Don't join in with their sin. When a crisis comes, they will have no doubt they can trust you and lean on you. Who they really are leaning on and trusting is Christ in you, they just don’t know it yet. You don’t know the call God has on their lives. It's not your business what their call is. It is your business to love God with all your heart, and to love your neighbors as yourself.

Blessings,

Tom