Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Then...

now...

God's Not Dead
 

Here's a picture of Colin's Mimi, Mary giving him a bath.  Lots of junk can cloud our Vision!

     I didn't take any pictures, but when our son Colin was in a car wreck on his way to work on August 20th, we knew that, if he survived, we would have a lot to be thankful for without the photos as reminders.  From the moment the Nebraska State Patrolman and I arrived at the scene until Colin was transferred to the Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, it all seemed surreal.  Thinking back now, I remember watching the Crofton Rescue workers crawl across his 1984 Buick that looked, to my unsophisticated eye, to be straddling a ravine.  They popped the windshield out of its socket, and then passed Colin out through the gaping hole...  It's strange to think, but even harder to say as the images continue to replay in my mind.  As I watched, I felt like he was being born again, being ushered from death into LIFE.  I knew that I was witnessing a miracle, not just in that all of these people came from their lives at the scream of the siren, to save his life, but a realization that Colin's life would never be the same-  could never be the same.

     The miracles didn't stop there, if anything, they were just ramping up.  Amazing doctors and nurses met us at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, South Dakota and without any notice my dear friend and colleague Sister Jane was there, cocooning us in prayer.  She thought that she was there for another call, but we were there instead... needing her prayers, her ministry and her love.  When they transferred Colin to another hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I was already in full-throttle mamma bear mode by the time they wheeled him into the Emergency Room there.  Wanting to do everything and able to do nothing, I stared astounded as the two nurses who worked diligently on Colin adjusted their name tags...Mary and Joy.  What would have been such a small thing to anyone else was everything to me.  To me, this was an affirmation that everything was going to be okay.  I think I cried then and in prayer turned Colin over to my Blessed Mother, Mary.  Not just my Vermont mom Mary or my Massachusetts mother-in-law Mary, both of whom I knew were already knee deep in prayer and supplications, but my heavenly Mother.  Later, when Colin was in surgery, I went into the chapel.  There was a statue by the altar of The Blessed Mother holding baby Jesus, and my prayer was that She would take Colin in her arms and guide the hands of the surgeons and nurses who were putting his broken parts back together.

     It seems like when we returned to the room after the surgery (or I could be mixing up my times now because it was all a blur) Colin had a new nurse from out of nowhere.  In walked a nurse who introduced himself as Gabe.  Startled, I asked him, "Gabe?  Is that short for something?"
     He replied, "Yeh, my name is Gabriel."  Hmmmmmm.
     "Like the angel?"
     He chuckled and said, "That's funny... the lady next door just asked the same thing.  Yeh, like the angel."  Game.  Set.  Match.
     Ya know, I could give you a long list of really bad things that have happened as a result of Colin's accident, but the bottom line is that he is alive.  He lives to fight another day and will hopefully heal in all of the right places.  Our friends and family around the world have lifted him up in prayer while, I know in their own lives, they are suffering with their own sagas.  All I'm saying is that God is present.  He is present in the miracles.  He is present in the tragedies.  Life goes on.  It's kinda like walking on water... I believe only the fear and doubt drag us under.  God's not dead and Colin's not either...thanks be to our God!
     

"Jesus is more than a great teacher; he is our salvation. He is not just an idea; he is a person. Jesus himself is the very foundation of our faith" (Word Among Us, September 1, 2014).