Hellooo!!
So God is so good- Sunday at youth group we witnessed 3 miracles!!
It all started out as a normal youth group- but when I look outside, there is a police officer in our church ( he turned out to be Pete, our youth pastor's brother in law). Then I look further down the corridor and see a bunch of Mennonite high school guys and girls. Ryan Evan ( a youth staff ) then pulled me aside and told me that these kids are from North Carolina and were in Charlottesville for a youth retreat. They were on their way home in a 15 passenger van and their driver ( who was the dad of 3 of the 12 kids inside ) had a heart attack and hit the guardrail on the 288 bridge, and flew off the bridge. The van behind following them behind (also with the group ) said he saw the van fly off the bridge and had no idea what to expect when he looked over to see if he could see them.
Hans ( Pete's brother in law ) was the first one to the scene. Hans is a believer and he went in to action. Miracle #1- NONE OF THE KIDS WERE HURT. They hit a guardrail, flew off a bridge and did not get even a scratch!!! Hans said that any further right they would have ended up in the James River- any further left and they would have ended up in a swamp. But they landed on soft ground between the swamp and the river.
Well- unfortunately the dad was pronounced dead at the scene and the mom (who was in the passenger seat) was in serious condition and sent to MCV. So, Hans, knowing that they were only minutes from Hope- got the Hope shuttle bus and got all of the kids to Hope. Meanwhile- we are having a full blown youth group. There were about 50-75 kids in that building last night- Andrew was Manning one door to ensure that no one got out of the room and someone else was at the other door doing the same, to ensure privacy for the kids. After a few minutes I asked them if they were hungry and told them that Andrew and I would go get them food, but then in true God fashion Ryan and Jennifer Mitchell ( another youth staff person ) remembered that we had bought 6 pizzas and tons of soda for the winning group of a scavenger hunt we had the previous weekend. So we supplied them with Pizza and drinks ( along with chips, pretzels, cookies and chocolate bars we had found). And I took them to the prayer room so they could totally be separated from everyone else and have time to go through what happened together.
During all of the chaos Nicole and Wes Mullins ( Other youth Staff ) took the 3 children of the driver and mom to the hospital to see their parents.
While they were in the prayer room- since Nicole had left, Cody took over youth group. Instead of a lesson he broke everyone up into small groups and we prayed. We prayed for the family, for the dad and mom for the children, and we were all praying hard and with our whole hearts- Miracle #2- During the praying, Hans told Cody that some how the dad was going in and out of consciousness!!!! Once pronounced DEAD at the scene, and an hour later he is coming in and out of consciousness???? Really? WOW - God is SO good. So Cody then tells everyone to pray again- Pray hard, pray in anyway you need to, stand up, sit down, raise your hands, dance do whatever you feel like you need to do, but lets really pray for a miracle that he will stay alive. After about 5 minutes of prayer Miracle #3 comes in to play-- HANS ANNOUNCES THAT THE DAD IS ALIVE. REALLY GOD??? You are SO SO SO GOOD!!!!!
Prayer works!! He was DEAD - now he is ALIVE. Prayer really really really works!!!
Also- Hans decided to talk to the youth group to inform them of what was going on- during this time the tow truck came to Hope with the wrecked 15 passenger van. Jennifer Mitchell and I went out fast with boxes to get all of their belongings out of the van so that the kids didn't have to see the damage done. Things were wet and just thrown everywhere. But I noticed something really cool- the only REAL damage to the car was to the passenger side. But it looked like he had hit a pole ( in reality it was the guardrail ) but there was no real sign that it FLEW OFF A BRIDGE!! It's like God took the van in mid air and gently placed it down on the ground!!! I mean COME ON that is AWESOME!!!
So, all of the youth kids left to go home- and a few drivers from NC came up to pick up the remaining kids. We baked cookies and made coffee for them all. And Hans told us some more interesting facts about this day.
#1- He was not supposed to work last night-
#2- He said that it was crazy how none of the kids were hurt
#3- He told us that during the heart attack the dad somehow turned the wheel left and that is what saved them.
God is SO SO good.
One more thing about this event- Wes Mullins mom has a carriage house, that she is letting the family stay in- all 13 of them ( I guess some of them were either in a different van or drove up from NC).
I am CERTAIN God let us be a part of a few miracles last night. I feel so honored.
I wanted to share this with you to show you that God does still work in miracles in today's time- we just have to recognize them as miracles and praise God for HIS work....Prayer works.
As of right now- the dad is still alive, but struggling alot and in critical condition- so it is CRITICAL that we keep praying for him and this amazing famiy!! The mom is supposed to have gotten surgery I THINK either today or tomorrow, so also pray for her recovery!!
