Now another story of God's grace and perfect timing! Growing up on a farm was very educational and entertaining - and dangerous! You've already heard some of our farm miracles, and there are tons that didn't end up being so bad that they needed a miracle

​Last weekend marked the one-year anniversary of dad’s lawnmower wreck that almost killed him, and he was given another miracle on top of it.  I wasn’t writing my stories at the time, but you’ve heard the farm stories of how dangerous farming is and all the potential pitfalls of working on equipment, with cattle, training raccoons….
 
A year ago, dad was mowing the yard and somehow got too close to the creek and ended up flipping the lawnmower over on himself in the creek bed.  He has never been a whiner, always just got through whatever injury and went on to the next job.  Same with this one.  He hurt and was “stoved up” and sore but thought he wasn’t really injured until about three days in and Kim and I just insisted he go to the emergency room.  By then, the doctor said if he had waited another day or two, he would have been dead.  Multiple broken ribs, punctured lung, totally deflated – it’s a miracle he made it that far.  Almost immediately upon arriving at the hospital, his mind began to waver.  He was hallucinating, seeing bugs on the walls, on the ceiling, saying crazy things.  We figured it was medicines the first couple days, but as it went on for several more days and he wasn’t improving, we began to get really worried.  He had really done some damage to himself, let it go too long, and bad things were happening. 
 
The hallucinations all had to do with “projects,” work that needed done, dozers that needed driven, cinder blocks that needed laid, you name it.  We had to take turns staying with him because it was so exhausting to be there for long.  He was directing all the work of the projects and we were the workers – jumping up, getting the tractor out of the way, hooking up the trailer, loading the blocks….
 
We would tell him that the bugs he was seeing weren’t real, that it was because of medicine, and he’d say, “I know you say that, but that bug over your head is big enough to ride on – it’s unbelievable you can’t see it!”  One time he asks me to jump up and get “that rope” for the pulley he needed, and he’s pointing up to the ceiling, so I jump up, reach up for this invisible rope, his eyes on my hand and the rope the whole time.  I “grab” the imaginary rope, slowly bring it down to his hand, with him watching my every move.  I pretend to put the rope into his hand and he says, quick as anything, “What, did you drop it?”  We laughed our heads off over that one.
 
One night we just insisted that mom go home – I mean, how many days and nights can she stay up while building all his projects?  He would get agitated if we didn’t move fast enough and he’d say, “Well, hurry up, we’re wasting gas as slow as you’re walking!”  Anyway, Kim was going to spend the night, and I was taking the evening shift.  Dad as somewhat settled down, and I thought perhaps I could get him to go to sleep if I sang to him.  So I began to sing at his bedside, “I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice,” some of those old choruses he loved.  He stayed quiet and seemed to be resting.  Everyone once in a while, he would say something, but it was like he knew that would be rude to talk while someone was singing, so he’d just lay there and be silent.  I sang and sang until I couldn’t think of any more songs, so people started sending me suggestions on Facebook, and I sang those too.  His poor roommate!  He was in there for drug addiction and had been totally out of it also, flopping around, carrying on – and then in comes this Jesus freak who wants to sing all night long!  He probably thought I was part of his detox.  I think he got shipped out the next day, probably just running from all of us.
 
Anyway, dad falls off asleep and in comes Kim, and I think I’ve done the greatest thing by getting him to sleep, so I sneak off.  She says I wasn’t gone for five minutes until up he came, needing to get the latest project done.  She didn’t sleep a wink all night long, worked herself to death.
 
In all the madness, though, it was amazing that he didn’t forget his Savior.  After the second lung surgery to repair an abscess, when he was coming out of it, he woke up crying and begging everyone he saw to get saved.  He was asking his doctor if he knew the Lord; that if he didn’t, he needed to meet Him.  The doctor escaped as fast as he could.  He was so desperate for people to know that they could have salvation, almost like he knew he wasn’t going to have much longer to witness to anyone and he was frantic about telling everyone he saw.  I remember watching him and just bawling, thinking that if this is the way my dad is going to go out, I will forever remember him witnessing until he took his last breath.
 
As the days went on and his mind got worse and worse, mom recounts that she drove to the hospital Sunday a year ago praying fervently for the Lord to take him, just take him rather than leave him in this working body with a mind that’s missing.  Instead, he restored his body and his mind and increased his strength and stamina.  Dad had testified in church a few months ago, praising God for all the strength he has given him back, even more than he had before the wreck.  He said if this kept up, pretty soon he’d be a teenager!  It is amazing all the things he’s been able to accomplish this year, proof that our God is a such a restorer!

​2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.