Change

Dave asked us this question. “If you could change something in your life, what is it, and why?” Each Monday I attend the Men’s Coffee hour. A few of us gather together in the Church Café to talk and sing songs while enjoying a cup of coffee, or a cup of juice if you prefer. 

When Dave posed the question for our group, I immediately thought of my accident and how my life had changed. 

It was Wednesday, November 9, 1988, and I was a happily married man. I had a wonderful wife and an eighteen month old baby girl. 

On a night I will never forget, I was walking along the shoulder of the road to my parent’s place, who lived just down the street. It was about nine o’clock when my life took a turn for the worse. 

A drunk driver was speeding behind me; his passenger mirror connected with my head and turned my life upside-down. The impact threw me into an adjacent field and I was knocked unconscious. 

The next thing I knew, I was in the emergency ward lying on a hospital bed watching my wife walking away from me, so I called out to her. 

You could have heard a pin drop. 

Everybody in that room stopped what they were doing. Apparently, since the accident, I had been repeating the same three things, over and over and over again. “What happened? Where am I? What time is it?” I was told I kept asking those questions non-stop. 

Apparently, I had lost twelve hours from my memory. 

Confused, I called out to Vicky before she left the room. I needed to make sense of my present situation. I was lying on a hospital bed with a nurse and a doctor standing behind me, repairing a gash in my head. What happened? 

Vicky came back to my side and told me I had been in a car accident. She and my dad drove up here while my mother stayed at our house to watch our daughter. Unfortunately, Vicky said she had to leave. Dad had to go and get some sleep because he had to work in the morning. Vicky left reassuring me that she would see me in the morning. 

When the doctor on-call finished closing up the split in my head, he asked me a few questions. From his assessment, he determined I could be discharged that morning. Instead of admitting me they placed a few staples in my head and sent me home. 

That first night home, Vicky and I, along with my parents, were sitting in the living room, discussing the events of the accident when we heard a knock on our front door. 

We were greeted by two gentlemen from Central Baptist Church, who were canvasing the area. They introduce themselves as Walter Vankruistum and Wayne Warner and they asked if we had ever considered going to church. 

With all that had happened, I wanted to hear more, so I asked if they would return in a week. I explained I had been in an accident and needed a bit of time. They agreed and we were looking forward to it. 

When I was a child, I attended Rawdon Street Baptist Church. As I grew up, I went from going to church occasionally to not at all. I had given up on God, but He didn’t give up on me. 

I believe on November 9, God was with me because I had just experienced a miracle. 

Keeping their promise, Walter and Wayne returned. We invited them in and we talked. In Luke 19:10 you read, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (NIV). I don’t remember what we talked about but it was enough to convince us to start attending Central. 

The question was, “If I could change something in my life, what would it be, and why?” Looking back, my first thought was the car accident, but the end result was turning to Jesus. 

So, I guess my answer would be “I wouldn’t change anything.” 

We now have God in our lives and that is the best thing that ever happened to us. Thank you Jesus for saving a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found. Almost blind, but now I see.