I flipped my suburban, landed upside down in a creek and I was not found for thirty hours.
It was a cold morning, probably ice on the road, and I lost control of my vehicle on a backroad. I was submerged probably, up to my neck underwater. I had suffered a traumatic brain injury.
In a moment, I started looking down from above. I was watching these first responders furiously trying to get somebody out of an upside-down truck in a creek. I thought; Wow. Whoever had that wreck must be in pretty bad shape because those folks are working hard to get him out of there. Time Out! That’s my truck. That must be me that they are trying to rescue.
I looked off into the distance and it was kind of a hazy fog in front of me but I saw a statue of a figure standing up. Although I could see him only dimly, I knew that it had to be Jesus. I thought; Wow, this must be it for me. So, I said, “Jesus, is it my time? Have you come to take me home with you?” He said, “Loren, it’s up to you. You can choose to stay on earth or you are welcome to come home with me now.” I said, “Wow, Jesus, if it’s all the same to you I would like to stay here and watch my children grow up.”
As soon as those words left my mouth I felt someone grabbing me by my collar to pull me out of my truck. I didn’t have a pulse. They wanted to call me dead on the scene but I came back to life. The doctor said that I wouldn’t make it through the night. Our next-door neighbor at the time was a radiologist and he looked at my head x-rays. He told my wife, “it’s not good, he’s not going to make it.”
I thought, wow. I was starting to understand where I was at and what was going on a little bit but I can’t respond or open my eyes and talk. So, I must be in a coma, this is going to be a while.
I remember a doctor coming in the room talking about how I probably wasn’t going to make it and even if I did make it I would be a vegetable. I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed anymore. I remember listening to that doctor thinking to myself, “Whoa, time out!” You don’t know what’s going on with this deal. Jesus has sent me back and this is not the end of the story for me.
That night, the first night that I was in intensive care in the hospital the transplant team came in trying to get my wife to turn over my organs. I’m so grateful for her for fighting for me and saying no.
After five months I started coming out of my coma and I just want to give the praise to Jesus. He called me by my name. I mean the creator of Heaven, the King of the universe knows my name and it’s a mind-blower.
It’s remarkable. If it hadn’t happened to me I probably wouldn’t believe it myself. But since I was an eye-witness to it I’m a believer.
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