Jay’s Accident
One Eye Opening Evening
If you haven’t read the introduction to this site, or stumbled upon this page you may not have noticed that I am in a wheelchair. On September 23, 1997 at about 8:30 in the evening on a gravel road just north of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada I lost control of my 1981 Chevy Scottsdale.
The truck fish-tailed three times before hitting the washed out ditch and rolling three times, landing on its wheels.
My neck was broken at C5 (I have recovered to C6-C7), I had a bit of glass in my knee and one gash across my arm. My passenger had a small cut on his head. It should have been much worse. We were on our way into town because I had three exams to study for the next day and no, there were no substances involved.
I have felt God’s presence in my life… at Westbank Bible Camp when I was saved by asking Jesus into my life, confessing my sins and becoming a new creation in Him… and many other times… but to that point in my life I had never felt Him as close to me as when I was sitting in that broken truck, with a broken neck, barely breathing with mostly paralyzed breathing muscles after I cried out for His help.
So to any non-believers directed to this site I think I know a few of your thoughts:
Landing on the wheels was just a coincidence. You were lacking oxygen, that’s why you think you felt God’s presence. It was the way your truck rolled why your passenger only had a small cut. Why did it happen you? If God is good, why you? I can answer that. I had chosen to ignore the tug at my heart to quit my sinning. I had been given many many second chances and opportunities to smarten up, but I didn’t. I chose to continue to sin and not even try to quit and improve myself or ask God for help. Jesus’ sacrifice provided grace for anything and everything I had done but I was on a bad road in life, not just the gravel road I had driven dozens of times.
So why me? Because He loves me. The road I was on would have ended with me imprisoned, dead or a vegetable. That is the extreme possibility. I wasn’t the worst punk but it doesn’t take much to go from “boys will be boys” to a criminal. But I give thanks each day for my mind being in tact, for the near 100% independence I still enjoy, for the opportunity to improve myself and grow my faith and my relationship with Jesus. My life is joyful now. I feel peace. Difficult situations are so easy to deal with now. I just give them to God and pray. Every last thing has been looked after so perfectly when I just give them to Him and pray.
