When Death Comes Calling

You Better Not Be Alone

I tell you this story not trying to impress you but to tell you the SECRET of Life, your life. God told me to write a list and to declare what I had written and confess it all the time throughout the day and I would be healed. It isn't what we do each day that brings happiness and joy, it is what we think and what we say that create our reality. Where the thoughs you think and the words you speak your life will follow, plain and simple.

We create the reality we live in. So, if we have created it we can change it!

This traumatic event was the beginning of my search for true happiness but I didn’t realize its impact and where it would lead until later in life…

WHEN DEATH COMES CALLING YOU BETTER NOT BE ALONE!

It was a cold, wet, dreary winter night when death came calling.

I was at work, the sleet and snow coming down so fast you could hardly see your nose in front of your face.

I sure was glad I’d put my thermal underwear on, but even with them underneath my one-inch-thick insulated overalls, I was chilled to the bone.

All I wanted was that night to be over with, so I could go home and snuggle with my new bride of three months and sip on some hot chocolate while watching a movie.

But That Wasn’t To Be…

You see, I worked for the railroad as a brakeman.

On that night, we were in downtown Troup, Texas switching box cars in and out onto the main track so that they could be picked up by another train coming through in a few hours.

Since the locomotive had to go out and block a road crossing every now and then, I had to stand in the crossing with my lantern and flare just in case a vehicle approached and couldn’t see the train in the middle of the road.

Just then, a drunk driver being chased by a Texas State Trooper came flying up the road doing 110 mph.

You guessed it; me and the front end of the locomotive were slap dab in the middle of the crossing.

The drunk’s car hit a small berm and catapulted in the air.

Now, I don’t remember any of what happened next, but this was what the report from the state trooper and the engineer on the locomotive stated.

Nowhere To Run…

As the car went airborne, my lantern and flare shot about 25 feet into the air over the front end of the locomotive.

The drunk’s car hit the front end of the locomotive cartwheeling around it, flipping numerous times before coming to rest on its side.

The engineer stopped the train, the state trooper jumped out of his car, and two other workers on the job began frantically looking for me.

After 20 minutes they still hadn’t found me, so they went toward the drunk’s car.

The car had flipped 75 yards down the road before coming to rest on its side.

As they approached the car, the conductor noticed something halfway between both ends of the car.

He walked up shining his lantern to get a better look, and that’s where he found me.

I was on the ground two feet from the car, and if it had rolled one more time, it would have crushed me.

Flying Can Be Hazardous To Your Health…

When I was hit, the lantern, flare, and my body are what were seen flying over the locomotive. The impact had catapulted me 75 yards down the road.

When they found me, all I had on were my tee shirt, underwear, and socks. It had literally knocked me out of my clothes.

I was unconscious and near dead when the ambulance arrived. They frantically worked on me all the way to the hospital, which was 20 miles away.

When I opened my eyes, all I could see was bright white, was I dead? It was puzzling. Where was I? What happened?

Then a figure disrupted the brightness. It was the face of my new bride crying with a smile as she looked down at me. Well, I'm not dead. I had been unconscious for five days.

The Truth Doesn’t Always Set You Free…

While freaking out over these questions and circumstances, 3 doctors entered the room. They checked me over and asked how I was feeling, "confused I replied, I’m hurting." Then the head doctor said, “You have multiple deep lacerations on various areas of your body, but a shattered right femur is the most serious of your injuries. They turned around to walk out of the room and the head doctor stopped and turned around and pointed at me.

Then he said, “The impact of that car hitting you at 110 mph should have burst you like a balloon. There is no medical or scientific explanation for you surviving. All I can say is "it's only by the grace of God you’re alive." Then he walked out...

A complete prognosis of what my future would look like would be available shortly after surgery.

Not Too Pleased With Where Life Was Heading

Surgery was a so-called success according to the doctors. Their prognosis of my future was more on the line of unthinkable.

I would have limited mobility in my leg for the rest of my life, so I just needed to accept the fact that I’d need to make changes to my lifestyle.

They continued to caution me on what to do and not do when released, yadda-yadda-yadda.

“Bull Crap!”

I’d heard enough.

By the sound of things, life wasn’t heading in the direction I thought it would, especially for the next two years or so.

You need to understand something here, I had only been home from Vietnam for 8 months or so and had just gotten married 3 months earlier and to top it off I loved playing tennis and was planning on continuing my goal to play professionally someday.

What You Do Today Affects Your Life Tomorrow, But How Is Up To You…

After being at home for a while dealing with the pain and the thoughts of what the doctors told me was near unbearable.

Then one day, it finally all came to a head. My pity party of why me had to cease. I needed to take control of changing my life for the better.

So, I asked God seeing that He saved me in the accident to come up with a plan — not too smart of a plan, or so I thought since everyone was all about setting goals back then and trusting in God wasn't the popular avenue to take. Just like today in this chaotic world we're living in. God isn't at the top of our list.

Not me — He told me to make a crap list of what I hated in my life, and at the top of it was the doctors’ prognosis. Then I was to add what I wanted my life to be like.

My Crap List

Doctors said, I would be on crutches a minimum of 18 months Bull Crap! Within 12 months, I would be walking without crutches.

Doctors said, I would have to use a cane just to walk. Bull Crap! Within 18 months, I would be running.

Doctors said, I would have limited mobility in my leg for the rest of my life with numerous complications. Bull Crap! Within 24 months, my leg would be fine, without any difficulties, and it wouldn’t change anything.

I taped my list plus some pictures of playing tennis along with numerous other pictures on the refrigerator door, so it would be staring me in the face every time I entered the kitchen.

When I looked and read that list, it would make me so mad that my blood would feel like it was boiling and ready to erupt like a violent volcano. But on the other hand at the same time, I would see the pictures of playing tennis and it would give me a glimmer of hope and confidence that someday it would happen.

As months passed, I noticed something shocking. My blood wasn’t boiling like it did in the beginning when I looked at the doctor’s future for me.

Instead, after looking at the list for a few seconds, I’d find my attention more on the pictures rather than the list and I'd just walk away with no real emotional ties to the words anymore but more on the pictures.

It’s All About Attitude, Trust, & Faith

I noticed my attitude was changing drastically. Faith, belief, and confidence were all soaring like a powerful eagle in the sky.

Doubts, fears, and questions about my recovery and the doctors’ prognosis were all fading away. My mission — 100% recovery, no crutches, no canes, and do whatever I wanted.

Well, here’s how it ended up.

In 12 months, I was walking without crutches or a cane. In 18 months, I was jogging. In 24 months, I was back to being my old self.

Even though the doctors said it was a one-in-a-million shot to have such a successful recovery, I knew exactly what was behind it all.

Faith in God, a positive mindset, along with a never give up attitude.

Everyone has challenges, and we all experience them in one form or another.

The most terrifying of them all is when you wake up one morning realizing your life hasn’t turned out the way you thought it would. Fortunately, you don’t have to live life this way.

I stated earlier, “God came up with a plan — not too smart of a plan or so I thought at the time.”

Making that Crap List helped me eradicate the emotional strain, but the pictures helped build confidence, and boost my self-esteem enough to overcome the challenges in my life because after a while that was all that filled my thoughts, recovery.

And it began with changing my thoughts and thinking process. But speaking these thoughts out loud to myself seemed to boost my confidence and self esteem. I was taking action, positive action over my life by declaring and confessing the future I saw for my life, which was full recovery.

Create your own crap list for recovery and success. Then think it and speak it and ask God to help!

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

The reflection you see in a mirror is who you are; the image looking back sees who you can be.

Face it — if you’re sick and tired of the direction your life is heading, and you want to see the designed life you truly desire, you must escape the I-Robot or zombie mentality that society has impregnated your mind with.

And start using the mind of Christ you've been give to conquer and hold captive those negative thoughts. What would Jesus think (WWJT) For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes]. 1 Corinthians 2:16 

You’ve let someone rob you of your dreams or you wouldn't be feeling the way you do now. The essence of who you are and who you can be is within you. There’s no way you can just sit back hoping and wishing that life will get better. Trust in God and see what He will do.

It takes guts in this age to do what God is telling you what to do. It takes determination, perspiration, and God to get what you want out of life.

The image in the mirror looking back at you is a genius (the wisdom of God) and knows how to get what you want.

No one on this planet is just like you.

You are a unique, special one-of-a-kind creation with abilities to create the life you desire.

The one-of-a-kind fingerprints, DNA, and brainwave patterns you possess validate this. God created you with a plan and a future in mind for you.

So, take charge of your life, start dreaming, and live life in a Christ Centered Approach (How would Jesus think).

Mirror mirror on the wall, am I a success after all?

You can be!

God tells us, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. But seek first his kingdom (His Way) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33-34)

The TRUTH is, Jesus Christ is the only answer to your problems, and everything begins with your thinking process and thoughts which are created on the battlefield of your mind.

Jesus came and died for you as He says, “I came that you may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows.]” 

The battlefield of your mind is the true "Portal to Happiness"