Rick’s Story… and he lived to tell it
The shocking recoil from two blasts of wickedly powerful Nitro shotgun shells unexpectedly sent Rick falling from a tree stand twenty feet to the ground. It seemed like a long time as Rick was falling. As a surgeon, he had ample time to wonder if he would be dead, paraplegic, or quadriplegic after hitting the ground.
Surprisingly, Rick was not even knocked unconscious nor had the wind even been knocked out of him. Was he able to move his legs? Yes. Was he able to move his arms and neck? Yes. And no, he certainly wasn’t dead or in any way paralyzed. Rick had landed completely on his back and somehow absorbed the fall. The immediate area around the base of the tree stand was a landscape of nasty rocks, roots and logs. There was only one space beneath the tree stand free from hazards and that was the exact spot where Rick had landed.
At the busy trauma center of the city’s hospital, the trauma surgeons were astounded. Never in their collective experience had they seen anyone escape severe injury after such a dramatic fall. Apart from some fractures requiring no surgery and several sutures around the eyes caused by the shotguns’s recoil, the rugged hunter was otherwise a healthy man.
Rick now thinks to himself that this was his great miracle of God’s healing and protection. He had suffered five fractures (four lumbar spine and one sternum) and as a surgeon himself, he is in complete awe of how the Holy Spirit healed and protected him. Rick is convinced that the Holy Spirit watched over him that day because his work on earth was not yet completed. In fact, he believes it may have just begun.
Postscript: It’s been over a year now since Rick’s accident. His healing has been remarkable and after six years of retirement, he has heeded a new calling. Rick now finds himself at work in a free clinic where his surgical skills are being utilized in a ministry to help those who cannot afford health insurance and needed medical assistance. He loves being able to utilize his skills in this healing ministry, but even more, being interactive with his patients in matters of faith and prayer. He seldom mixed medicine with prayer in his pre-accident practice. Where did this dramatic change in Rick’s life come from?
Who Was There?