What Can Be Said 009

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It’s a funny thing about a child’s perception. As time was passing and I was trying to adjust to all that had happened, I was asked a question. I was asked where I wanted to spend my time in rehab, as that Hospital was a Teaching Hospital and did not offer the kind of rehabilitation I was going to need. I was told there was a great Rehabilitation Hospital in Jacksonville. But that really didn’t sink in. All I could think of was going back to Maine. My mind processed it as going back in time. Erasing the last few months and pretending it never happened. So I said I wanted to return to Maine but in my mind I wasn’t going into another Hospital I was going home, back to what I had left behind.

Since I had been hospitalized there had been several News articles written about myself and that accident. Many of the reported things about me were only partially correct. There were rumors that I had died, that I would be paralyzed from the neck down and such things as that. When Christmas came there had been a rather large article called, “Home for Christmas” and the challenges we would face in doing so. I remember there had been one gentleman who had read the article who offered to fly me home in a private plane, and one of the nurses that cared for me offered to fly up with my Mother and me to help insure a safe trip.

The News Paper, (The Inverness Chronicle) had also wrote about the rather large sum of money it would take to make such a journey. They had asked the public to help make that Christmas one I would remember. There was also a woman who’s name was Lee Blair, who had been there from the start. I had no idea who this lady was, only that she was a dear Christian woman who wanted to help. I still don’t know who she was or where she came from. Only that she was a tremendous blessing sent from God. It was she that had collected all the donations from all the people in this area who chose to help a Mother and her son.


As it turned out we didn’t need the nurse of the private plane for the trip. I don’t remember why we ended up on a regular commercial flight after all the concerned comments about the dangers. I can tell you this though, I was quite a sight! My left leg in a cast up to the hip, a body cast that went from my waist to my neck and sporting the latest fashion in neck traction! Not one person passing by could resist looking at me and of course, I had to be seated in the very front row from easy access.

It is easy to look back now and smile about it or to make fun of the situation, but at the time I felt as though I belonged in the circus. As odd as it may seem, I think it was the looks from the children that helped to adjust to being looked at all the time. Or worst yet, to be looked at and see a quickly turning head as I look back at them. However, with children it was different; kids don’t quickly turn away before you can make eye contact. And it gave me a chance to smile at them and to see them occasionally smile back. Kids are very open and honest with their questions or comments. But they never judge you by what you look like. Adults seem for the most part to have forgotten how to do that. They think its rude behavior or impolite, at least after they get caught looking at what obviously seemed odd or different to them.

It isn’t my intention to put other adults down, but only to express that children have something that we adults have forgotten. Perhaps that’s why they are so important to Christ, and why He says we must become like children in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
Matthew 18:3 “and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”.


Once we got to Maine we landed at the Bangor (ban gor) not (ban ger) International Airport and was shuttled in an ambulance right back to another hospital. And here I would spend the next six months before getting to go home. Only, it wasn’t going to be the home I remembered. Continued…

What Can Be Said 008

Two months or so had passed between the events surrounding returning the car to its owner and when I found myself lying in a hospital bed, torn from everything that was familiar to me. Everything in my world was about to change in a way I never would have imagined.

Not too long ago I had been given an opportunity to deliver a Sunday afternoon message to a wonderful group of elderly folk who lived in a local long-term-care-center.

As I sat before them ready to deliver my message, I flashed back to the days I spent hospitalized. I began to express to them, (with a depth of compassion I had never felt before) how I could feel what they were going through. How I felt their emotion, their depression, even their sense of self loss. I told them how I understood the feeling of being torn from the lives they knew.
Their sense of freedom, their ability to make their own decisions, but especially how it felt to be plucked out of the very world they had come to know, that world they had come to rely on, that which they had felt comfort and security from. It didn’t matter if their world was in their opinion a good one or not, you can get used to most any situation after a while, even realize there was a kind of comfort, once that comfort has been removed and replaced by something completely unfamiliar.

What I remember most about the time in the hospital was the smells; you can become very used to the smells of your own little piece of the world. A type of comfort you never realized was there, like the particular brand of soap or shampoo, the way your clothing smelled fresh out of the dryer. Then to suddenly wake up to an entirely different world of smells in a controlled environment. Our senses play a big part in forming our memories and create a sense of security.

My intent that day was to express to those kindly people that God had not deserted them. Just as He had not deserted me all those years ago when I was plucked from the world I knew.

Returning to November 1980 mid-way through the month. Once I became alert and somewhat oriented with where I was, the Dr. which was caring for me as well as a team of nurses surrounded my bed. In his seemingly cold, professional way, he began filling in the blanks for me. As he told me what had happened, (and even to this day) it felt as if he was telling me about someone else. You never envision that tragic events like this could happen to you.

He gave me the highlights and my mother filled in the details. She told me how I was hit be a passing car which was heading in the same direction, that they brought me to the little hospital here in town and as they had no way of properly caring for this type of injuries they had flown me in a Coast Guard Helicopter to a much larger Hospital some fifty miles north of here.

She explained what damage was done and how it would affect my life. There were a total of seven bones broken in that incident. Both lower bones in my left leg were broken, (the tibia and fibula) the left side of my pelvis had received such an impact it was shattered into pieces. My spine, although technically had not severed, was damaged beyond modern medicine ability to repair.

I still remember how she bald her two fists up to symbolize my spine and showed me how my back had arched to a point of chipping the edges off the vertebrae, (Thoracic 5, 6&7) And last, but absolutely not lease, one of the vertebrae in my upper neck had been severed. Level, C2. (Cervical level 2) I was told had the break been another vertebrae higher it would have taken away my ability to breath.

Other than by the grace of God Himself, I never understood how the nerves in my neck had not severed and the nerves in my back had. I was left as a Paraplegic rather than as a Quadriplegic. (Para- meaning two limbs, quad- meaning four).

They also had to explain to me that because I had broken my neck I had to have my neck in traction. This consisted of two half inch bolts which they had screwed into the temple area of my head while I was still unconscious. At the other end of a cable there were two weights that kept my neck straight while it began to set and heal. And that’s where I stayed for the next month.

As I began to heal and get a little strength back and as we talked about going back to Maine, there came the problem of mobility. As another team of Doctors and nurses gathered around the bad, they sent my mom out of the room after explaining what they were going to do. They not only sent her out of the room they told her she had to leave that floor of the hospital. I remember there was one person there who was responsible for making the cast for what would be the anchors of what they called a Hallo Brace. Although this contraption is fairly well know now, in 1980 it was still knew and few who had heard of this Hallo Brace.


As they began to stick needles in four areas of my head, to (as they said) numb the area before they screwed knew bolts in, I remember holding onto the hand of the man that was standing beside me, he turned out to be the same guy who made the casting. As I grasped his hand, he held on and never let go through the whole ordeal. I realize this in it self doesn’t seem very important but this gentlemen was the first African American I had ever met, not to mention held on to. There just weren’t many African Americans in the area of Maine that I lived in. This man helped to shape and influences my opinion of a totally different race of people. I will never forget how that man stayed there with me ever moments of what was by far the most painful thing I had gone through up to that point. The amazing thing about all this is that My God even through all this was teaching me to love my neighbor. Continued…
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Abstract Truth

Creator of this world,
It belongs to You,
Beast of the ground, birds of the air,
Man from the dust, breath of God,
Rib did You take, desirable to her mate,

Tree in the midst, taste of death,
Snake in the grass, from beginning to end,
Labor with birth, labor of earth,
Worship was lost, along came Seth.

Floods came, destroyed the earth,
A branch from the Olive, Peace again,
Your Rainbow in the sky,
A promise from You, Thy fury subsides,

On Eagles wings Israel You delivered,
Complain as they did, Your might restrained,
Food rained from the sky,
Water poured from a rock,
Moses Your chosen, directed Your flock,

Babylon tower, rise of futility,
Disobedience in their heart,
Confusion on their tongue,
Scatter to the earth, dwell under the sun,
Rose up again, from all corners within,
Confusion in their heart, Disobedience on their tongue,
God will not be mocked, it is almost done,

From the line of David, Jesus comes,
Baptized in the Jordan, Honored from above,
Tempted by Satan, could not be undone,
Shone His love, healed the beloved,
Gather the children, faithless are none,

Chased by many, stoned by some,
Captured in the garden, deceived by one,
Beat Him with straps, pulled out His beard,
Mocked by many, mourned by family,

Judge by the world, guilty they said,
Release Barabbas in His stead,
Dragged through the streets, hung on a tree,
Cursed are all, the prophesies state,


Thieves in the midst, one on each side,
One repented, the other dies,
Blood and water, flow from within,
Christ revealed even then,

Taken to a cave, held by a stone,
Three days within, death could not hold,
Scar on His hands, hole in His side,
Shone to his servants, He did not die,


Defeated evil, rose to His throne,
Restoration was known,
For You are our Salvation, they can not defeat.

What Can Be Said 007

The only way I can think to explain the emotion behind returning Warrens Car to him would be to tell you of a particular event that took place one night when we were still getting used to life on the farm.

After dinner the usual at home was clearing the dishes, making sure there was enough wood for the next morning and for most finding a good book to consume our imaginations with. As you can probably guess, bed time came early at home. There was always more work than could be done in a single day. And having goats was always one of the biggest challenges. You can’t imagine how hard it is to keep goats in a wooden fenced in area when they want out.

That night started out the same as any but when you have chickens and goats and other farm animals you have to always keep your ears out for critters that may decide to try and make a meal out of your animals.

We were sitting around the table as it began to get dark out; I'm sure I was doing something to occupy my mind for a short while before bed. Not long after it had gotten dark we began to hear a blood curdling high pitched squeals and howls. This was the first time I had ever heard such a noise. The sound of a pack of Coyotes can send shivers and make the hair stand up on your neck regardless to how big a man you might be. That shrill noise can certainly make any one think twice about walking out into the dark night.

Never-the-less that’s exactly what we did. Dad, Fred and I reached for the guns and a hand full of extra ammunition and rushed out the front door, straight toward the howl of those Coyotes. The adrenaline that coursed through me was like nothing I had ever experienced. We started out on a fast run and slowed as we got closer to their howls. Soon we had gone so far we could no longer see lights in the cabin, that’s when the adrenaline turned to fear.

As it turned out they saw or smelled us before we could see them. A couple a shots in the air and they went silent. That was the last we heard of them that night. I can still remember how my body shook as we got near to the house. Not in fear but in relief that it was over.


...After it was decided that the car had to go back it became a matter of setting up a meeting place. We sent message that we would leave the car at a friend’s house and that he could pick it up there. The next morning Dad, Fred and I piled into the car for one last ride, and just like that night with the Coyotes, we went armed with our weapons. We were taught not to trust anyone, and always be prepared for that unknown factor that exists in all of us. “The human factor”! It was time to hunt down those howls again. The different was, this time they were in the shape of a man.

I recall the ride there as being extremely nerve racking. It was thirty or so miles to the town where we would meet Warren. When we got there we all three kept watch for Warren just in case he was in another vehicle. We didn’t want him coming up from behind or getting to the meeting place before we were ready for him. Once we got there we took the back roads and cut through parking lots to avoid as many intersections as possible.

When we were finally there, we sat there in the car for a moment, as if wishing this was already over.

It’s interesting to realize that the same emotion I felt running down those wild animals was the exactly the same as not knowing if we all would get out of this alive. The response from adrenaline is powerful and I can see where it could become addictive and corruptive of ones soul. Making something that one would never imagine seem suddenly very possible.

We sat at the house where we arranged to meet Warren for just a few moments when a car stopped across the road and he jumped out with a spare key. And just as quickly as those Coyotes went silent, he drove away. Without a single incident, it was over.

We got a ride back to the city shortly after but this time the weapons went in the trunk. As happy as I am that it went uneventful I will never forget how that day could have ended very differently. The Glory be to God above. Several years would pass before I saw that little town again. Continued…