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1. A Prelude to a Miracle

I was looking forward to this morning... 

as I [in 1982, after work,as a Georgia Department of Corrections Correctional Officer] had planned a hunting trip on the ninety-eight acre farm, bordering the Chattahoochee River, my family and I lived on. 

I arrived home and gathered my gear trying to get as early a start as I could. My wife had already left for work as most people do who have normal working hours. I usually called her when I was going hunting, but being in a hurry on this particular morning I didn’t.

I had about a two mile hike to my tree stand...

and arrived there around 10:15am. 

My stand was about 20 feet high on the front side facing a thick patch of pines. The back side faced the river below and dropped off to huge boulders in the river below. I tied off my rifle to be pulled up after my climb to the top and began my upward ascent. 

I reached the top and positioned myself to pull my rifle up. Then without warning I heard a snap [krak]. I would later return to this site many times to reflect on my life. On one visit with a friend I measured the distance from the top of the stand down to the boulder I landed on – eighty feet!

-

As I began my fall to the river below... 

I could see the river coming up fast. I knew this was the end for me and though it was just seconds before impact, it was as though I was in slow motion.

So many thoughts raced through my mind. “My wife, my daughter, my family, and no one knows where I am! Would I ever be found?”

Then, darkness. 

How long this darkness lasted I don’t know. 

Then something wonderful happened. 

I felt myself leaving my body... 

I was floating a few feet in the air above the river. I looked on my body with mixed feelings. I was bleeding from my mouth, nose, ears, and saw a trickle [straaltje] of blood underneath me on the boulder. As I was reflecting on the state of my body, I felt a pulling [trekken] and began to rise very fast. I was traveling at a high rate of speed upwards through the atmosphere.

-

As I left the atmosphere...

I looked back and could see the Earth! 

Such a beautiful sight! It was so brilliantly lit. 

As I looked ahead [vooruit] I could see the planets. 

I thought to myself, “This cannot be! Where is Jesus?” 

I was never told anything like this could or would happen when I died.

[bron]