“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28
We had driven a many a mile on the highways of Africa, Canada and the USA without one accident, but that was about to change. We were driving on highway 80, which was a two lane paved road, heading to Columbus, Ga by way of Phenix City, AL. The sun was shining, and it was hot. I had the cruise set at 55 mph, but it would vary from time to time. I looked up ahead and saw a Ford pickup coming out of a dirt side road. The pickup came to a stop at the stop sign. I kept my eye on the pickup to make sure it did not pull out, and if it did I would have sufficient time to slow down. The truck never made a move until I could see the driver and then all of a sudden the truck lunged forward. I had no time to react except to hit the brakes and as I hit the brakes we hit the truck right behind the driver’s door. It was like hitting a brick wall. It seemed to be in slow motion. The impact was enormous. I could see the front end crinkling up. My wife was holding our young son in her lap. I saw them heading toward the dash with my wife hanging on to our son. Our seat belts were holding, but the impact was moving everything and everybody out of place. The sounds were horrific. Our daughter was the only one in the second roll of seats. I did not know what was happening back there, but it was over as quick as it happened. There we sat in our crinkled up the van, and smoke was coming from under the hood. I quickly told everyone we need to get out in case the van catches on fire. It took us a few minutes to get out because everyone was in pain and the seats were all out of shape. The truck that we hit was not in sight.
Now we are all out and on the side of the road. Cars starting stopping to see what had happened. The first person to stop was a nurse. The first thing she did was call 911. Then she started checking everyone to see how bad we had been injured. She checked all the family and said they were in pretty decent shape. Then she came to me, and the only thing I remember her saying was that one of my lungs had collapsed. It was a little hard to breath, but in a few minutes it was back to normal. There we all lay on the side of the road for almost one hour, and it was unusually hot.
After the Ambulances had arrived, my wife and son were put in one and me and my daughter were put in the other one. Off we went to the hospital in Phenix City, AL with sirens blaring.
At the hospital, it was a long wait as each one of us were examined and x-rayed for injuries. I had a broken collar bone; Linda had lots of bruises; Joy had a cut on her lower chin where her teeth had come through and Chris had a concussion but other than that we were all going to be okay.
Now we had no way to get to where we were going. I gave the Pastor of the church that we were headed to a call, and he said that he would be right over to pick us up.
The Pastor was gracious and extremely helpful. He took us to where the van was towed so that we could collect our belonging. He had to do most of the work because the rest of us were in no condition to help. He even took us out for a meal, but nobody ate much, and we did not talk much because we were still in a state of shock.
Arriving at the prophet’s chamber we or he unloaded our belonging. He gave me the keys to the church van, a credit card and told me to take the family out to eat breakfast in the morning. I think I told him okay but honestly cannot remember because the pain meds that I was given had already begun to kick in, and I do not remember much about the rest of the night.
Next morning I awoke feeling a little better but still dazed from the previous night events. We did not go out for breakfast because no one was able to do so. Everyone else was still bed ridden while I tried to give an update about our ministry in the service, but I do not remember much of that. I must have said all the right things because I heard no complaints, or maybe no one said anything because they all knew what had happened the night before.
After the service, the Pastor let me know that we could use the Prophet’s Chamber as long as we needed to do so. We took him up on his offer and chilled out for a couple of days to get our thoughts together, and make arrangement for someone to pick us up. I called my Mom and Dad and let them know what happened. They said that they would get in touch with my older brother and someone would be down to give us a ride home.
My Mom, younger and older brother arrived the next day. Over to the junk yard we went to see our van, which was not, in too good a shape. After seeing the van, we were praising the Lord that we had come out alive.
Arriving home, we were informed that the other vehicle had no insurance because it was not required in the state of AL. at that time. We were then thanking the Lord that we had purchased uninsured and underinsurance coverage on our van, which would cover all expensive including a rental until we were able to purchased another vehicle.
Consequently we were grounded for the healing process for 6 weeks. During this time, I was able to find that our insurance would pay us for our vehicle, and all meds bills. I called the insurance adjuster and he told me what was going to transpire when we met and then he said, “I am going to give you an extra $300.” I thought to myself, “that was mighty thoughtful of him, and I wondered why he is doing that?” A meeting was set up to go see him and get payment for our vehicle and the extra $300.
During the time before our scheduled meeting with the insurance adjuster I was still wondering why he was giving us an extra $300. My wondering got the best of me and I started doing some checking around. I found out that we were suppose to received some funds for pain and suffering. Now I am not a greedy person, but if this was what the insurance is for then we should be able to receive what is coming to us.
The day finally arrived to meet with the insurance adjuster. He was a friendly person. We begin to talk, and he relayed to us the amount we would receive that day for our van plus the extra $300. It was then I began to question him about the benefits about our uninsured coverage. I ask him if we were in titled to receive anything for pain and suffering and he said, “Yes.” I ask, “why did you not tell us this?” His reply was, “I am hired to save the company money not to tell you your benefits.”
That meeting was adjourned as fast as it started. There was something I needed to find out, and it was not from this man. Therefore, the next few days were days of getting info about compensation for our injuries. After getting all the info needed, we were back at the insurance adjuster office where we were then able to settle the claim.
With all of this settled, we were now able to return to the mission field where the Lord had called us to minister the Gospel.
It is well with my soul!
Now we are all out and on the side of the road. Cars starting stopping to see what had happened. The first person to stop was a nurse. The first thing she did was call 911. Then she started checking everyone to see how bad we had been injured. She checked all the family and said they were in pretty decent shape. Then she came to me, and the only thing I remember her saying was that one of my lungs had collapsed. It was a little hard to breath, but in a few minutes it was back to normal. There we all lay on the side of the road for almost one hour, and it was unusually hot.
After the Ambulances had arrived, my wife and son were put in one and me and my daughter were put in the other one. Off we went to the hospital in Phenix City, AL with sirens blaring.
At the hospital, it was a long wait as each one of us were examined and x-rayed for injuries. I had a broken collar bone; Linda had lots of bruises; Joy had a cut on her lower chin where her teeth had come through and Chris had a concussion but other than that we were all going to be okay.
Now we had no way to get to where we were going. I gave the Pastor of the church that we were headed to a call, and he said that he would be right over to pick us up.
The Pastor was gracious and extremely helpful. He took us to where the van was towed so that we could collect our belonging. He had to do most of the work because the rest of us were in no condition to help. He even took us out for a meal, but nobody ate much, and we did not talk much because we were still in a state of shock.
Arriving at the prophet’s chamber we or he unloaded our belonging. He gave me the keys to the church van, a credit card and told me to take the family out to eat breakfast in the morning. I think I told him okay but honestly cannot remember because the pain meds that I was given had already begun to kick in, and I do not remember much about the rest of the night.
Next morning I awoke feeling a little better but still dazed from the previous night events. We did not go out for breakfast because no one was able to do so. Everyone else was still bed ridden while I tried to give an update about our ministry in the service, but I do not remember much of that. I must have said all the right things because I heard no complaints, or maybe no one said anything because they all knew what had happened the night before.
After the service, the Pastor let me know that we could use the Prophet’s Chamber as long as we needed to do so. We took him up on his offer and chilled out for a couple of days to get our thoughts together, and make arrangement for someone to pick us up. I called my Mom and Dad and let them know what happened. They said that they would get in touch with my older brother and someone would be down to give us a ride home.
My Mom, younger and older brother arrived the next day. Over to the junk yard we went to see our van, which was not, in too good a shape. After seeing the van, we were praising the Lord that we had come out alive.
Arriving home, we were informed that the other vehicle had no insurance because it was not required in the state of AL. at that time. We were then thanking the Lord that we had purchased uninsured and underinsurance coverage on our van, which would cover all expensive including a rental until we were able to purchased another vehicle.
Consequently we were grounded for the healing process for 6 weeks. During this time, I was able to find that our insurance would pay us for our vehicle, and all meds bills. I called the insurance adjuster and he told me what was going to transpire when we met and then he said, “I am going to give you an extra $300.” I thought to myself, “that was mighty thoughtful of him, and I wondered why he is doing that?” A meeting was set up to go see him and get payment for our vehicle and the extra $300.
During the time before our scheduled meeting with the insurance adjuster I was still wondering why he was giving us an extra $300. My wondering got the best of me and I started doing some checking around. I found out that we were suppose to received some funds for pain and suffering. Now I am not a greedy person, but if this was what the insurance is for then we should be able to receive what is coming to us.
The day finally arrived to meet with the insurance adjuster. He was a friendly person. We begin to talk, and he relayed to us the amount we would receive that day for our van plus the extra $300. It was then I began to question him about the benefits about our uninsured coverage. I ask him if we were in titled to receive anything for pain and suffering and he said, “Yes.” I ask, “why did you not tell us this?” His reply was, “I am hired to save the company money not to tell you your benefits.”
That meeting was adjourned as fast as it started. There was something I needed to find out, and it was not from this man. Therefore, the next few days were days of getting info about compensation for our injuries. After getting all the info needed, we were back at the insurance adjuster office where we were then able to settle the claim.
With all of this settled, we were now able to return to the mission field where the Lord had called us to minister the Gospel.
It is well with my soul!
No comments:
Post a Comment