This the story of a blessing I have received that I have only told a couple of people about and I think that God has laid it on my heart to share it with people. It might be long but I think it is worth you reading.

In the spring or late winter of 2003 I was involved in an accident on McFarland Blvd. I was blocking traffic in a patrol car for some road repair workers. While I was sitting in my patrol car I heard the squealing of tires behind me and looked in my rearview mirror and saw a big truck pushing cars out of the way and I thought, this is going to hurt. I was hit on the driver’s side by one of the cars and pushed into the tar trailer that the workers were using to repair the road. Both airbags in the patrol car deployed. I was trapped in my vehicle between the tar trailer and the vehicle that had hit me. I had trouble talking and breathing because of the airbag but called into to headquarters that I had been in an accident and was trapped in my car and that I needed rescue. I was transported to DCH with a hurt right shoulder. When I got to DCH I found that the right sleeve of my uniform had holes burned in it from the tar, but none on my skin. I usually rode a motorcycle at work so I had on a few layers of clothes and this kept me from getting burned. The Doctor said that if it had got on my skin they would have had to peel my skin off. The next day I went and looked at my vehicle and saw that the passenger airbag was covered with tar. The airbag had kept the tar from hitting me in the face. The airbag should have inflated and deflated in under a second and not stopped the tar but it did and protected my face from being burned and scared for life. I tell you this because of the money I got from this wreck started my downfall.

Because of the accident I got enough money to put a down payment on a Tri-axle dump truck. I talked to several people about this and it seemed like a good business to get into. I purchased the dump truck and leased it on with Vinson Trucking and hired a driver and got a credit card for the business. The truck started making money so I went out and got a new pick up, I started to spend money on things, we would go out to dinner every night and go an vacation, I would always tell wife that it was OK the truck was doing good. I was tithing at church and even sending money to Pastor Black with RPM. I thought I was doing great. When a repair was needed I would put it on the credit card. I would always say I would pay it off with the next check. Well I started digging the hole. I never saved. The truck started needing more and more work. My driver told me about another trucking company I could make more money with, so I sold the dump truck and bought an 18 wheeler with a dump bed, I lost money on the trade. This truck ran for a little while and I kept spending money. The motor in this truck went out and I had to rebuild it, more money, I ended up trading this truck in and getting another tri-axle and again lost more money on the trade. I had this truck for about 5 months and I thought everything is going to be OK. Then my driver quit and the truck was trashed and I traded it in on an 18 wheeler with a flat bed and got me another driver, again I lost money. At this point I was in so much debt I could not quit. I was too ashamed to even talk to anybody about it and never told my wife. I finally talked to my Aunt and she paid off the loan on the truck and I now had a loan with her.

I finally got sick of the repairs and sold the 18 wheeler at a loss and got me a F-350 and a gooseneck trailer and started running hot shot loads on my on. At this point I had $85,000 in debt and owed my aunt $75,000. I had done everything wrong and felt like a failure, I had refinanced my vehicles and taken a second mortgage out on my house. I could not quit because I had to pay the debt back but I was still falling behind. Before I got the F-350 my wife had found out and we were fighting all the time. I never told her because I did not want to be a failure in her eyes or my kid’s eyes. I was working 7 days a week and still getting no where. I started to pray everyday for the lord to get me through this. I told him that whatever it takes do it. I was overwhelmed with guilt and worried about it all the time. I did not sleep and even thought about suicide, so my wife could get my life insurance money to pay off my debt. But I did not want to do that to my family. I thought about disappearing but that would just leave the burden on my family. I just kept praying everyday for an answer. I told the lord that I would go though anything to get out of this. I begged him not to do anything or to take anybody else for my debt but to do it to me to show me the answer. I did this and I will pay for it.

Then on 06/06/06 I had a motorcycle accident that broke my right scapula and skinned me up pretty bad. While I was in the Hospital our new Pastor and a Deacon came to see me. This was the first time I really met o0ur new pastor and he has been a god sent pastor to our church. I also think this is when God put the Deacon in my life, we had been friends at church and I had done some work for him but I think this was the start of a life long friendship, He has done more for me and my family that I will ever be able to repay and I could not thank him enough for just being there for me and my family.  To this day I have never told him how much his friendship means to me.

While I was off work for 3 weeks I continued making runs with my F-350 and working for the Deacon some to pay the debt down but was getting no where. I was not spending any but I was getting nowhere. My family life was suffering and my kids were doing without. We did not go out to eat, or go a vacation and when we went to softball tournament with my daughter  everybody would stay in a hotel or go out to dinner we would stay in the cheapest hotel and eat sandwiches because we could not afford it. I kept praying for the answer and kept telling God to do whatever it takes to fix my screw up.

I think the accident on 06/06/06 was to see if I really meant what I was saying because on 09/26/06 I was hit by a drunk driver on my motorcycle. This was a bad accident. I broke my Pelvic bone off my back 7cm, 4 broken ribs, compound fracture on my left leg, ruptured bladder, torn urethra and a concussion. I should have been dead. My Doctor told me that when the pelvic bone breaks away from the back usually at about 3mm the main artery tears and you bleed out in a few seconds but mine was 7mm and the artery did not tear. They fixed my leg that morning at DCH but did not want to try to fix the pelvic bone for fear I would not make it through the surgery, so they stabilized me. I found out later that the Doctor told my Dad that I was not out of danger yet and that I might not make it through the pelvic bone surgery that they were sending me to UAB for.

I do not remember anything about the accident. When I woke up in the Hospital the first person I remember talking to besides my wife is the Decon again. I told him to not give my job away that I would be at work on Thursday and he laughed and said yeah right. I did not know at this point how messed up I was. I also remember a good friend of mine, another Officer coming into my room and telling me that a drunk driver had hit me and I said “cha-ching”. I thought right then that god had answered my prayers and I thanked him and knew that everything was going to be OK. I was going to go through a lot of pain but I was paying the price for being stupid, just like I asked God to do. I also remember the sick feeling I had when my kids came in to see me the first time and could not look at me without crying and would not touch me. I hated that they were going through this and it made me sick to look at their faces. My little buddy, my son, just buried his head in my wife’s shoulder and would not even talk or look at me. My oldest daughter, who never cries would not even look at me, she stayed at the foot of the bed and cried and would not talk to me. My other daughter came to my side but could not talk. I told them all that everything was going to be OK and not to worry.  I felt terrible for putting them through this.  My mom and dad were also there and I remember them being very upset, I still did not know everything that was wrong. My dad talked to me a little but if I remember right my mom did not until later. Later that evening, my sister and niece came to see me and they were both very upset. I told everybody that came to visit me that first day that everything was going to be OK. I felt it and knew that this was Gods plan and if he wanted me dead I would have died in the accident.

Sometime in the next few days I was told about all my injuries and that I was going to be airlifted to UAB for the pelvic bone and urethra surgeries. I had a lot of visitors, I never knew I had so many friends, A long time friend took care of all my families needs and kept everybody informed, He has also done more for me and my family than I will ever be able to repay.  He was my training Officer when I started at TPD and took me to Open Door Baptist church for the first time, little did I know at that time how much that would mean to me and my family.

I can not remember all the people that came and visited me but I would always tell them that I was going to be OK God had spared me. I never did tell anybody this whole story because I thought people would think I was crazy. While I lay in the Hospital I kept thanking god for answering my prayers and would asked him what he wanted me to do with my life, He had kept me around for a reason and to show what that reason was.

After about 7 days I was airlifted to UAB for surgeries. That went well. While I Was at UAB a lot of people I did not even know came to visit me in the hospital. Being at UAB was real hard on my family. My wife lived up there during the week and my dad would stay on the weekends. It seemed like I never saw my kids. While they would be visiting my daughters would hold my hand and talk to me but my little buddy still would not look at me. This was killing me. But I would try to talk to him and tell him everything was ok. I was at UAB for a week before they did the surgery; they were waiting because of my bladder. This worried my wife to death but I told her to quit worrying that everything was going to be OK.

The day of my surgery the Deacon and my parents stayed most of the day with  my wife. A weird thing happened while I was in surgery. I was in a room with a bunch of other people and a nurse came in a door and said you are done and I got up and went into another room and I saw a person lying on a table and then I woke up. And that person was me. After 10 days at UAB I was sent to DCH Northport Rehab. A good friend came to visit me, his daughter plays on daughters travel ball team, he bought me a pen made out of Olive Wood from the holy Land that he had made.  We talked for a while and he told me that God had spared me and that he had plans for me. After he left I prayed for God to show me what he wants from my life for sparing me. Later that day my wife bought the kids to see me and my little buddy for the first time in almost 2 months lied next to me in the bed and talked to me. I can not explain the feeling.

My wife would come to see me and I would ask her about the bills and she would say with all the donations and stuff things were ok for now, I would tell her everything is going to be ok. While I was in UAB we had got ourselves a Lawyer and he was working on the case. But he said it could take a while.

After 10 days at DCH Northport I got to go home. This was another answer to prayer. I wanted so bad to be at my own house and in my own room.  I still could not walk and was on a lot of pain killers and other medication but I was home. A few weeks after I got home I was able to go to a Motorcycle ride for me that was put together by TPD. I was not expecting much but when I got there I was overwhelmed, 267 motorcycles had showed up. This was the biggest motorcycle ride in the history of Tuscaloosa, the weather was perfect. The ride raised almost $8,000.00. This money would help us pay the bills I had dug for another few months. Again I thanked God for his faithfulness and knew everything was going to be OK. I was shocked at all the people that came up to me at the ride that knew me. I did not know I had so many friends.

The first Sunday I was able to go to church I was overwhelmed by everybody coming up to me and saying they were praying for me. The love I felt can not be explained. I wanted to tell everybody that this is what I had asked for but couldn’t. I am a very shy and closed person. I keep my feeling and emotions to myself.

Well several months went by and my lawyer called and said he had good news and wanted to come by the house. He came that evening and said that the insurance company had paid. The lady that had hit me was uninsured and my insurance company had paid 4 uninsured motorist claims to me. He said that this was a God thing because I was partially at fault and they do not have to pay. He said they had not asked but a couple of questions and he had received the checks. The money we received from this paid off all my debt. Everything was paid in full except my house. I got exactly what I had prayed for. GOD DOES ANSWERS PRAYERS. Now I am still praying for God to show me what he wants me to do with my life, he will let me know when it is time.

I have also found from this experience that I have some very good friends that I will never be able to repay. I have a church family that was very supportive of me and my family through this very tough time. I have a wife that put up with a lot of crap from me and stood by me and I could not have made it with out her. I have several very close friends that developed out of this.  I will never be able to say this to the people because of who I am. Like I said I am very shy and closed. I do not show or share my emotions well. I have written this to tell my story because I could never tell anybody it face to face. There are several people I did not mention by name that have had a positive effect on my life. I could go on and on about different people but in the end GOD should receive all the credit.

I will close with this. After I was able to walk a little I went down front of the church and as I was walking back up our praise team leader said in front of the church, it was good to see me walking and he made some statement about how with everything I had been through he had never once heard me complain or ask God why me. Well now you know why