STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Ok ladies,  this is my first post.  Im sure most of you know me as kaykays husband. I want to pose a question for you all.  there was an incident that occured about 2 years ago, where we live.  an automobile accident on our causeway over the bay.  It was very bad, had traffic shut down for several hours.  I was worried that kaykay might have been involved in it since it was about the time I thought she would be off from work.  Thank god she wasnt.  I read this story again on our towns paper website and I was in tears, ever time i read it and look at this picture i tear up.  This happened about the time The Passion of the christ came out.  well, i will attach the story and pic, please read this and then look at pic.  Then ask yourself, "do I believe".  I know the answer for me.         God's shining Grace by Steve Bales

 

God truly moves in mysterious ways.

Last Thursday afternoon, as I was writing my review of Mel Gibson's new movie The Passion of The Christ, a terrible tragedy was unfolding on the Hwy. 35 Causeway Bridge in Calhoun County. As I often do, when I'm writing in my office, I had closed my door and asked my co-workers to not disturb me. I turned my police band scanner off, which sits beside my desk, so I wouldn't have any distractions from the outside world.

I saw the movie on Tuesday at a special screening before it opened to the public on Ash Wednesday. It was a hard piece to write and I struggled for several hours to try to put my thoughts and emotions from the powerful film down on paper (or in this case, into my computer). Little did I know, as I sat in the safe confines of my office at my computer, a real-life drama was taking place on a dangerous span of highway not more than a few miles from me.

As I was giving my review a final read through (at about 4 p.m.) I got a call from Wave News Editor Charlyn Finn on the office intercom. She asked me if I was listening to my scanner. A little upset for the interruption, I replied that I had turned it off to try to write my review of The Passion.

Charlyn explained that just minutes earlier there had been a fatal car accident on the causeway and at least one person was thought to be dead and others were injured - the bridge was being closed and emergency responders, along with two of our staffers, were headed to the scene.

As I hung up the phone I could hear the sirens of ambulances and fire trucks outside my office racing to the accident scene. I turned my scanner back on and the sounds of the world immediately rushed back into my quiet office. As we got busy listening to the scanner and trying to understand what had taken place, we learned that our reporters could not get close to the accident scene which was located in the southbound lane near the Point Comfort side of the bridge.

A few minutes later I received a second phone call, this time from a young man on a cell phone. He didn't want to give me his name at the time but he said he was caught in the traffic, just behind the accident on the causeway bridge. He said he had pictures of the accident scene.

He sounded upset. I asked him to tell me what had happened. He said it appeared a "drunk driver" had crashed his Honda Accord into a Jeep Cherokee full of "elderly people" and that one lady was laying on the street "hurt real bad." He said another lady was "floating in the bay" and not moving. He wanted to give us the pictures but he was afraid he might get into trouble.

I assured the young man that he couldn't get in trouble taking pictures in a public place and that we would use great discretion in anything that we printed in the newspaper. He agreed to stop by our office when he was able to get off the bridge. The young man arrived at our office a little after 5 p.m.

He said his name was Chris and he handed me a little digital camera he bought just a few days before. As my staff worked to try to download his pictures he sat and told us what he had seen.

He didn't know any of the people involved in the accident which he kept saying was "really bad." He said when he came upon the causeway accident scene the police were already there stopping traffic.

"The accident was right in front of me, if I had been a few minutes earlier I might have been involved in it," Chris told us. "I saw this guy who was walking towards me, stumbling and looking totally out of it. He fell down and I got out of my car to see if he was hurt but an officer got to him before I did."

He said he later found out that man was the driver of the Honda that crashed into the Jeep and it appeared he was very intoxicated. He said he had his new camera in his car and he just started walking around the accident scene - trying to capture what he saw, which was unbelievable.

At one point one of the sheriff deputies took his camera away from him and said he shouldn't be taking pictures of this. A little while later he got his camera back and was able to drive safely off the bridge with his pictures intact.

After we downloaded his pictures we found something I can only describe as incredible. There, in the middle of his dozen or so digital shots, was an image that took all of our breaths away (see photo below).

They say a picture is worth a thousand words - I believe this one is worth much more.

Chris couldn't identify the two men in the foreground of the picture. One appeared to be a large sheriff's deputy and the other an older man in shorts with a forlorn look on his face. He said he didn't think it was the driver of the Honda but he wasn't sure.

The element of the picture that I find so powerful is the almost luminous beacon of light shining almost from directly overhead. The shaft of light is shining directly over the crash scene and the heads of the deputy and the man in shorts.

We all just sat there and looked at the image on the computer screen for a minute or so. I finally told Chris that I knew the reason why he was there taking pictures and that I believed it was meant to be. As Chris was leaving I told him I would try to get a copy of the photo to the family of the woman who died in the accident. I told him I felt sure it would be a great comfort to them.

Right now skeptics reading this and looking at the photograph are probably saying it was just a ray of sunshine that was caught at a weird angle by the camera. That's true it could be. I will tell you that we checked the frame just before and just after the photo was taken and the sun is there but at a much lower angle, closer to the horizon and reflecting on the bay water.

Some will say that we doctored the picture and all I can say is we didn't. You'll have to take my word for that but we have the photo preserved in its original format and I suppose experts could look at it and tell if it had been altered.

All that doesn't really make any difference, however. If you believe you believe - if you don't, you don't.

I do. Continue reading the rest of this story and your doubts might be removed.

God moves in mysterious ways,

his wonders to unfold...

I printed a copy of the unaltered photo and put it in a manila folder, along with a copy of my Passion review, to take home for my wife to see. When I left the office Thursday night (at about 8 p.m.) I met my pastor, Jenny Stephenson of Salem Lutheran Church, at the Twin Dolphins Theater in Port Lavaca. Our church was offering its sanctuary as a quiet place for viewers of The Passion to go reflect and pray, if needed, after watching the powerful movie. I shared my review and the photo with Pastor Jenny and said I was going to try to get a copy to the woman's family.

I had trouble sleeping that night thinking about the movie. The terrible death that Christ went through for my sins and the guilt I was feeling. I also prayed for the family of the accident victims and for the man who might have caused the accident and his family. I asked God to comfort them - I still didn't know who they were but I wanted them to feel God's comfort and to know of his love and saving grace.

Friday morning I called the office before I left home to see if we had received a report of the accident from the Texas Department of Public Safety - we hadn't.

On my drive to town I looked at the photo again which was still in the manila folder on my front seat, along with my Passion review. When I got to the intersection of Hwy. 35 and Virginia Street, instead of heading to the newspaper office I decided to turn left and head for the causeway bridge. The accident scene had been cleaned up and the Highway Department already had most of the guard rail damage repaired. I continued across the bridge to try to talk to Rick Brush of the Point Comfort Police Department, one of the first responders to the scene.

Rick said he often patrols Hwy. 35 near the causeway bridge watching for speeders but at about 3:45 p.m. Thursday he was in Point Comfort making sure no one was speeding through the school zone.

"If I had been there at that time I might have been able to prevent the accident," Rick told me. "It was a tragic scene."

I showed him the photo and he was visibly moved.

"That's him," Rick said. "That's the husband of the woman that died. He's wearing the shorts and that is one of the sheriff's deputies trying to console him. This photo was taken right after the husband was standing at the broken guard rail pointing to his wife saying 'that's my wife, I know she's dead.'"

Rick told me that the two couples had just driven into Port Lavaca from South Texas, parked their RVs and unhooked one of their pull-behind vehicles (a Jeep Cherokee) to do a little sightseeing. He said they had just driven across the causeway to look at the water, made a U-turn on the Point Comfort side and headed back towards Port Lavaca when they were hit from behind and rammed into the guard rail.

"It was a sad scene but I don't think his wife suffered - I believe she was dead before she hit the water and after seeing this photo I think her soul was already headed to heaven," Rick said. "You know her husband is still in town. The two RVs are at the courthouse annex. I've asked some of the preachers in town to go by and visit him."

I thanked Rick and left his office knowing what I needed to do next. I called Pastor Jenny and asked if she would go with me to meet the husband. She agreed to meet me at my office, not far from where the RVs were, and that we would go together.

When I got back to my office Charlyn had learned from DPS Trooper Juan Aguilar what had happened. He said at about 3:45 p.m. Thursday a late model Jeep Cherokee with two men and two women had been rear-ended by a late model Honda Accord traveling at a high rate of speed (estimated at between 85-90 mph). Reportedly the collision rammed the Honda under the Jeep which was forced into the guard rail.

During the split seconds to follow the two women were ejected from the Jeep - one went over the rail into the water and the other landed on the pavement of the bridge.

The woman in the water, Frances Johnson, 65 of Kokomo, Indiana, was killed and the other woman, 67-year-old Leah Ray Sparks from Greenville, South Carolina, was in critical condition with head injuries. Her husband was driving the Jeep, 68-year-old Max Sparks. He was injured and had to be freed from his vehicle with the "Jaws of Life." The Sparks were lifeflighted to a San Antonio hospital during the night.

Richard Johnson, 65, was in the front passenger seat and appeared to escape with only minor cuts and bruises but he lost his wife, Frances.

Pastor Jenny and I found Richard alone, sitting in his empty RV, when we arrived at the courthouse annex. I told her I wanted to give him a copy of the photo but was unsure if I should or not.

"You'll know if its the right time," she told me.

Richard reminded me so much of my brother-in-law Jesse who lost his wife (my big sister Sandra) last August to a brain tumor. He didn't look like Jesse but he had the same lost look of someone who had just lost a loved one. Richard was obviously upset but still very gracious to accept visitors.

As we visited we learned that he and Frances, along with Max and Leah, had been traveling for several weeks and were headed back home when they stopped in Port Lavaca for the night. He told us that Frances was his second wife and he was her second husband.

"We had both lost our spouses, of many years, to cancer several years before we met, fell in love and got married five years ago," Richard told us.

Pastor Jenny offered to pray with him but he said that two other preachers had already visited and prayed with him. He thanked us for coming and being so kind but he didn't really know what else we could do for him. He said he wasn't really associated with any church back home but that he would be okay when his son arrived later in the day. He said his son was flying to Corpus Christi from Kokomo and driving to Port Lavaca to help him.

"I just hope she didn't suffer," he said.

Pastor Jenny looked at me and said, "Steve, I think you have something that was meant to be shared with Richard."

Before I showed him the photo I explained all the events that I've detailed above - how I came upon the photo and how I felt God had used many people to bring the photo to him. When I gave him the photo his eyes swelled with tears as did mine and Pastor Jenny's - the three of us just sat there for a few minutes in silence.

Richard told us that after the accident had occurred he saw that Max had a hurt hand and he tried to stop the bleeding. He said he got out of the Jeep and saw Leah on the ground hurt but he couldn't find his wife. When he looked over the damaged guard rail he saw his wife floating in the water below. He said he knew she was dead because she wasn't moving. He remembered saying or thinking "I hope she didn't suffer" and that's about the time the photo was taken.

After looking at the photo I told him I believed Frances didn't suffer. That her soul was saved by God's shining grace and carried to heaven on that beam of luminous light.

God truly moves in mysterious ways. All we have to do is open our eyes and watch his wonders unfold in our lives.

EDITOR'S NOTE - At first I was unsure about writing and sharing this column and photo. I was torn between the feeling that this experience was meant for one person, Richard Johnson, or whether it should be shared and witnessed to all. I tried to talk to Richard about it over the weekend but I couldn't find him. Monday morning, after much thought and prayer, I started writing this column at home. About 30 minutes into it I received a phone call from Richard. He was on his cell phone calling from his RV on the road - Pastor Jenny and I had left our phone numbers with him. He and his son were on their way back home to bury his wife Frances. He called to thank me and Pastor Jenny and all the people of Calhoun County that came to his RV and left him notes, to pray with him, console him and offer their help. He especially wanted me to thank Judge James Duckett, Sheriff B.B. Browning and all the emergency responders that helped at the accident scene. He said he and his son had visited with Max Sparks and his wife Leah, who were still in a San Antonio hospital. He said Max is recovering remarkably well and Leah has opened her eyes and is moving her head. He wanted me to keep in touch with him in the weeks and months to come - I assured him I would.  answer.