A Jesus Comment Will Win This Burl Cue

I was struck by a car when I was in third grade, several blocks away from my parents house. I was standing just before the curb and was launched from the road and over the sidewalk. I remember clearly the moment happening in slow motion, and will never forget the looks of the faces on the passengers in the vehicle, i remember parts of the event as clear as it was blurry. I got up unscathed though, without a scratch. I remember seeing or hearing Jesus voice, and before I knew it I was up in my feet. Thst moment feels like a dream to me nowadays. The man who hit me was actually our next door neighbor and my mom watched the event with her own eyes, I remember be launched from my feet, she rememberers seeing it unfold too but to this day I will never understand how I was never even injured, not a bruise not a scratch. Pure miracle from our lord, I don’t know how you couldn’t have faith after such an experience. My great grandfather was a priest and now my older brother, when I was little I never felt close to Jesus and never understood why anyone else did. After that accident I was pulled close to him and walk with him beside me everyday, I believe this incident happened to me by design to show me and pull me closer to his path.

Jesus wept . If the most powerful man to ever walk the face of the earth wept …its ok for the rest of us to shed a tear for our pains and suffering knowing that the blood from that same man washes away all of our sins and will relieve us from our pain and suffering. Thank you jesus for all you have done for me and whats waiting on me at the end of my earthly journey !

Jesus that’s some nice looking burl!

Jesus has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. Being a Catholic, my parents understood the importance of Jesus in our lives and my two older brothers and I all attended Catholic grade schools and high school. Because of the cost, and my mother understanding the importance of being a homemaker to raise us, we went without the unimportant material things but never went without the most important thing and that was the love and forgiveness of our parents and more importantly, the love and forgiveness and blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of my favorite things that Our Dear Lord said while on earth was when he was near death on the cross. He said “ forgive them father for they know not what they do”. What an amazing way to teach us to forgive those who harmed us in any way and to spread God’s mercy through his teachings in the Gospel.

I contend that Christians who seek Jesus experience him big.

They say a cat has nine lives – maybe – but I also know without Jesus I would truly not be alive. For over 25yrs I flew by the seat of my pants. Far from Jesus and taking life for granted. Throughout those years I, unknowingly tempted fate without realizing or considering the consequences of my actions. I was a risk taker and had not digested the power of the Lord; particularly when he has greater plans for you/me. When I was young I fought – got stabbed in chest and by divine intervention I lived to see another day. Years later I went to India to attend their version of our Army’s Ranger School. While there I was thrown from a helicopter and … again … lived to tell about it. Deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq a total of five times … I did some things and saw some things … my biggest memories are the smells of war … yet again I lived to tell about it. One Christmas eve, I was home alone with bad thoughts, a 12pk and a divorce … I lived to tell about it. Today I have a beautiful loyal and kind wife, four kids, nine grandkids and we about to adopt a 6yr old. There is no other reason other than Jesus and his plans for me that I am still here. He is a miracle worker. Fortunately for me Jesus has given me “numerous” second chances – and with those chances I have been blessed to be able to give back. To acknowledge these – and many other – negative events in my life and to know that Jesus is with me every step of the way eases the burden to carry on even when it seems that all hope is exhausted. To experience Jesus all one must do is recognize him and what he does for us on a daily basis. I know first hand – I have played with that chainsaw too many times – fortunately for me Jesus drained the gas.

I apologize that this “comment” will read more like a novel, but the full weight of my most profound Jesus experience cannot be shortened anymore than I’ve done here.

On April 26, 2003 I learned the true extent of Jesus’s love for me and experienced His incredible protecting power.

I was on the annual guys camping trip with a bunch of friends. Eric, my lifelong friend and Chris one of the guys he knew from work, decided to jump on a couple of the quads and go up to the top of Badger Mountain. I didn’t have my own quad. I asked one of the other guys, Matt, if I could borrow his and follow those guys up the trail. He said that would be fine, but be careful because he was still making payments on it. His quad was not an off-road machine like the others but a flat racer

Eric led pack up the trail, followed by Chris with me at the end. We went up the multiple switch bags on the rocky trail and got to the top in pretty short order. We sat up there enjoying the view and talking about everything we could think of. When we arrived, I was at the back of the line so when I turned my quad around, I was at the front of the line. We headed down the mountain trail with Chris right on my tail. I’m not sure why he kept bumping into me from the back, other than to just mess with me. After enduring this for several minutes and coming around a bend to a long straightaway, I “put the hammer down”.

This was not an intelligent response! As I mentioned that machine wasn’t made for that type of terrain, I got up to about 65 miles an hour when I realized I was coming to a hairpin curve, I tried to slow down, but it was too late. My front left tire hit a large rock in the trail, which threw me and the quad over a cliff. On the way down, my left foot got caught between a stump and the quad. The medical term for the injury is called a “full dislocation of the left Talus”. When people go through such an experience, many describe the incident with having “their whole life flash before their eyes”. I can verify that at least for me this was indeed the case. In just a split second it seems I saw my entire life played out as if on a movie screen.

When I went off the road, I wasn’t aware, but learned later on that had it happened about 10 feel sooner, the drop off was sheer and at least 500 feet. The pitch of the slope I did go over was approximately 45°. It was incredibly steep. When I came to a stop, I was in a seated position. I looked down at my feet, and although both knees were pointed heavenwards, my left foot was pointed far left, perpendicular to the right one. When I first thought upon seeing this was “well that’s not good!”.

Unfortunately, and because I had gained so much ground on Chris and Eric, they did not see me go over the cliff. I heard them zip by and quickly realized if I didn’t get myself up the cliff I would die out there. I hadn’t realized at the time that Wayne had followed us up on one of the dirt bikes. I heard the roar of the motor as he approached the turn where I went over the cliff. I quickly stood up and hobbled up the cliff a few feet on my damaged leg with my right hand, extended as high in the air as I could possibly reach. When speaking to him later, he said something told him to look to his left, and he glimpsed my fingertips. We know Who that Someone was!

I heard him slam on the brakes and come to a sliding stop. I knew then I had a chance. He made his way down to where I was sitting and asked if I was OK after seeing the mangled quad slightly further downhill from where I sat back down. I replied that I was OK but I thought I had broken my leg. He took one look and said “Yep!“. The next buddy to show up with Brian. He made his way down to me and took one look at my leg, turned around and got sick.

From that point, several of the other guys in the group began to arrive. Some of them working their way down to me to evaluate the situation and to try to figure out how to get me back up on the trail. The fact that I was still alive at that point and hadn’t traveled just a few feet more to a sheer drop off of over 500 feet was an absolute miracle. It appeared that I was flying through the air high enough that I hit some pine branches at the edge of the cliff which arrested my forward progress and dropped me to the ground. That was the first of many miracles in this experience. The second one was pretty astounding, as the first person to stop outside of our party was a doctor. He made his way down to my location on the side of the cliff and determined that there would be no moving me until my leg could be splinted. My brother arrived moments later having followed Chris and Eric back up the trail. Those two guys not seeing me in front of them, flew down the mountain to camp in hopes of finding me. When they didn’t they knew something had gone wrong so several from the group headed back up. My brother was driving my 78’ Ram charger. Since we were supposed to go mudding on that trip, I had cleaned that truck out completely knowing I would probably need to spray the mud out when I got home. I tell you this because that’s another miracle. The doctor I mentioned earlier asked the guys to look around to try to find a stick that match the shape of my now mangled foot and leg. He asked if anybody had any tape which my brother happened to find in my truck. I know there was nothing in there because I cleared everything out of it even looking under the seats before I left home. A miracle roll of duct tape!

After splinting my leg, it was now the task of the group to figure out how to get me up to the cliff. It was way too steep to try and carry me. Amazingly enough, and yet another miracle, there was a fiberglass top off of an old international scout that had carpet attached to it just about 10 feet to my right. The charger my brother drove up, had a winch on the front. The decision was made to pick me up and set me on the fiberglass top, run the winch cable underneath and hook it to the downhill side of that makeshift gurney. It worked like a charm!

Not many people know this, but the top off of an international scout fits perfectly between the wheel wells of a 1978 Dodge Ram charger. After getting me back on the trail, the guys picked up on two sides and slid me right into the back. My brother called 911 and the dispatch told him to bring me down to the intersection of Terryall Rd. and Highway 24. It was a long slow and very painful journey with every bump on the trail, causing me excruciating pain. My mind has locked out a lot of that now, thank the Lord. My brother said I was in good spirits, the whole time cracking jokes.

When we arrived at the arranged meeting spot, there was no emergency help waiting for us. No one had given it any thought of the time that Terry All Road was a big loop and intersected with Highway 24 and two different locations. Since we had traveled from the top of the mountain, where signal was great to a valley where no one‘s cell phone was working, we were not able to call 911 again. My brother spotted an emergency call box across the highway from where we were waiting. He ran over, opened the cover, picked up the receiver, but all he heard through the phone line was static. Not knowing what else to do, he yelled into the phone:
“We need an ambulance, we need an ambulance!“. He came back to our side of the highway; no one knew exactly what to do next. No one wanted to take the risk of transporting me all the way to town which was a good hour and a half drive. While the group discussed our next move and within just a few minutes of my brother’s attempt to get help, the EMTs arrived at our location.

Immediately they pulled me out of the back of the Ram charger and put me on a real gurney. They started an IV as I was very dehydrated by that point. As they were getting ready to load me in the back of the ambulance, I saw one of the EMTs turn to my brother and ask. “How did you call us? There is no signal in this valley, dispatch said she could barely hear you.” My brother replied “I used the emergency call box across the highway“… Here’s the next miracle…. The EMT’s face went white as a sheet and his eyes got round as saucers as he exclaimed “that call box was just installed and won’t be hooked up for another couple of weeks“.

Then began the long journey to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. The trip is kind of a blur in my mind, now, again a mercy afford to me to not remember the anguish. By the time they took me into the ER. It had been approximately 4-1/2 hours since the accident. The ER doctor put a needle attached to a vile in a vein of the damaged foot. I heard him counting slowly: “1001, 1002…” all the way to 1011. He said to me “Mr. McAninch, the circulation is gone in your foot. I don’t have time to sedate you, and if I don’t set it now, you could lose it. Please grab a hold of the sides of the hospital bed“. I of course, complied, I don’t remember screaming, but my brother who was standing outside the ER doors said it was a sound he’d never heard from a human being. The doctor pulled back on my foot to get the socket joint straight again (after it became dislocated) and shoved it back into place.

The next thing I remembered was waking up in a hospital room, in a bed with my leg elevated and an IV in my arm. The surgeon came in to chat with me the next morning. “Well, son, you’ve ruined your summer. We did everything we could to repair ligaments, blood vessels and tendons. If everything goes perfectly, if we did a good enough job, and God willing, you might be able to walk again in a year or so“.

Well, six weeks later, I was out of my cast, off my crutches, and not using a cane. As a matter fact, I water skied a month and a half after the accident. God is so good and the healing power I experienced was nothing short of miraculous. Jesus held me in the palm of his hand from the moment this experience started and all the way through.

Unfortunately, I’m a slow learner, and although this was an incredibly traumatic experience, it wasn’t my only brush with death. I can only look to my Lord and Savior for continuing to provide for me.

Praise Jesus!

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

We all would be NOTHING without him!
I would be NOTHING without him!!
My marriage would be NOTHING without him.
My career would be NOTHING without him.
My family would be NOTHING without him.
The world would be HELL without him.
Thank you Jesus!! Thank you for blessing me with this life!!

I am a sinner saved by Grace. His grace keeps me, restores me and is with me always. Many blessings on you and your endeavors.

I was saved in January 2016 when my preacher gave a sermon on Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine”. Jesus changed me that day and turned my light on. I would love to let this cue shine with me on the pool table.

Jesus is just like you and I. He died trying to tell us the truth and I feel that’s our purpose now is to help spread his message. I know I’ve been divinely protected on many occasions in my life and I’m forever grateful. Wish I was better with my words. God bless you all.

My name is Michael Cottrell, I’m a worship leader at Grace Missionary Baptist Church in Springfield OH and I’d love to share with you the testimony of my son Gideon.

On November 2nd 2023, we walked into the surgery wing of Dayton Children’s Hospital. We were unsure of the events that would happen that day, but we knew that no matter what the outcome was, God would use it for His glory. Gideon was born with a condition called Craniosynostosis which caused the growth plates on the left side of his head to be fused prematurely. This prevented his brain from being able to develop. It also resulted in a harlequin eye deformity. A nasal passage deviation and a left ear canal deviation. By the time the day of the surgery came, we were very familiar with the hospital. We had been weekly for roughly 2 months. Not counting trips for potential seizures and additional blood and imaging work. Because of these frequent trips, the waiting room felt oddly… comfortable… it’s a surreal thing to have a surgeon explain a surgery they will perform on your child. I suggest avoiding it if you can. Here’s your warning of what the doctor told us that day… skip ahead to the word SAFE, if you don’t want to know.

Gideon would be put under and an incision would be made along his temporal line, from ear to ear. His face would be peeled forward to reveal the skeletal structure. His skull would be cut in several places and reshaped / sculpted to provide the correct structure for the flesh to attach to. His nasal passage, ear canal and eye socket would all be corrected in other more graphically horrendous ways. Then he would be closed up and bandaged and we would have to wait and see.

SAFE

We were told a number of things to expect and the risks. He may not survive the surgery. If he did, we’d likely be in the hospital for 4 weeks. 2 weeks of PICU and 2 weeks of regular transitional care. He’d be subjected to ~5 complete blood transfusions and he’d be on the table, under the knife for ~12 hours. If he survived the surgery, his eyesight in his left eye may be compromised. He may have permanent brain damage. His speech, and motor function may be impaired. All of these were considerations and risks. I had one person ask me, “How could you put him through that?” “What’s the harm in leaving him as he is?” Hope. Without intervention, there would be no hope of him having a fully developed brain, no hope of him ever speaking, no hope of him being able to do all the stuff normal people take for granted. Hope. We sure needed it that day.

Knowing the risks, I signed the paper for the surgery. Sarah and I both gave Gideon loving hugs and kisses before I handed him off to the nurse to take him to surgery. I fought back the thought that I may have just signed my son’s life away… that the hugs and kisses, might have been the last.

With these thoughts all neatly tucked away, we reserved ourselves to the “comfortable” waiting room and well… we waited…

Roughly 6 hours into the surgery, a nurse came and collected Sarah and I. We were told the Dr. wanted to meet with us. Alarm bells started going off in our heads as the surgery was supposed to take 12 hours. This couldn’t be good. We braced ourselves for difficult news as the nurse led us to a small room with 3 chairs, 4 walls, a door and no windows. Sterile white, I think was the name of the paint color. For the next 10 minutes, Sarah and I sat in silence. Together, but alone with our thoughts.

The doctor came through the door and explained he had some news, everything went better than expected. They were finishing up the sutures and he’d be leaving surgery for PICU in a few minutes. I think the door blew off the hinges of that little room when we both collectively exhaled.

We met Gideon in his room and he was conscious but clearly in rough shape. He’d been through a lot. The doctor told us his skull had a 3 cm deviation on the left side and his brain tissue had indeed impacted. Now 3cm is about 1.25 inches, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but… when your head is only 5” front to back, it’s quite substantial.

Gideon sighed softly as he drank from a bottle of water and a tear ran down his cheek. His eyes closed and we wouldn’t see those eyes again for four days.

Two difficult days later, he hit all requirements to leave PICU and move to transitional care. 12 days sooner than expected. 2 days later, he opened his eyes and we were released. 4 weeks turned into 4 days…

Fast forward a year. A full year! Gideon has an awesome scar, that is now hidden by a very rambunctious head of hair. He climbs, he toddles, even runs at times. His speech is behind but improving every day. He waves, laughes, kisses, cuddles and bonks noses. He’s clearly a very happy kid and we couldn’t be happier. Sure, there are still challenges, but nothing compared to hurddles he’s already cleared.

A heartfelt and sincere thank you to all of those who kept Gideon and our family in their prayers. I truly believe that every cry for intercession was answered and every petition brought to the throne, authorized. I believe that the doctors hands were guided by The Great Physician. That the peace we felt, even in times of anxiety, came solely from The Comforter.

Gideons story isn’t over. Every part of it to this point has been a testimony, a witness of Gods presence, provision, grace and mercy. Sarah and I have no doubt that God will continue to use him for great and amazing things, far beyond our imaginations.

It will be amazing to see where he is in a year… a full year…