Two Years...

Last Thursday I took a short ride north of town to Valley View to spend a little bit of time with the campers from HYM that were enjoying their week of summer camp. I did not make the trek this year to Valley View, instead I took my small group and went to Horn's Creek in Cleveland, TN.

Upon arriving at camp I noticed some improvements that had been made since the last time I had been there. Most notably, to me, was the hill side that had been cleared off behind the dining hall and the parking lot/drive way. I went inside and had lunch with them and then slipped out so I could survey the hillside and tree that had almost taken my life two years ago. You see today, June 22nd, is exactly two years since that night.

The picture above shows all that remains of that tree. The last time I was on site most of the tree was still laying in the edge of the woods, but now all has been cleared away and just the stump is left. I walked up the little hill and looked all around it. I took three or four pictures and marveled. The tree was huge at the base and is still charred black from where the lightning struck it. There are many times when I recall the difficult time that ensued this accident.

Just the other day I went to a local hospital to see a lady who was in SICU following heart surgery. I knew going in that she was still on a ventilator and was in extreme pain. Now I go to hospitals a lot and see people in various dispositions of pain, but something struck me a little differently this time. As I walked through the ICU a strange feeling washed over me and as I walked into her room and saw her struggling with the breathing tube I was right back there in ICU myself all over again.

I got a little aggravated at myself because I felt like I was past it and should have been able to handle that situation. I went back again today to see the lady, they had removed the tube but she was still in tremendous pain. I feel for people in that place, as I walked through the ICU I could not help but peer into each room and wonder what pain was filling them. I am not sure I will ever fully be over it or past those feelings that creep in from time to time.

Whenever I sit and ponder the accident and the days that followed strange things often come to mind. Like I can distinctly remember waking up Tuesday morning, the morning after the accident, and slowly looking to my right to the bed beside mine. I was in the trauma unit at Vanderbilt and was in a large room with many beds separated only by curtains. In the bed to my right was the nurse from camp who was in the accident too. She had a neck brace on and was this unable to turn her head but I saw her looking at me. We made eye contact and she asked me how I was doing. By sheer instinct I said, "I'm okay", I then chuckled a little realizing the humor and said, "I'm okay as I can be".

And that is the truth, I'm okay as I will ever be. I have aches and pains that come and go with the change of the seasons and evidently I have some emotional scars that rise and fall at certain times. But nonetheless, I am okay, because regardless of how bad it was God was there with me then and he his here with me now.