Greetings to all!
Of course, once more, Aaron blogging here, but this will be a long one. I warn you in advance, long and possibly overly descriptive, but because of what happened, I must write it all out!
Let's see, where to start. Start with the basics. Myself and Jessie went to an all-night youth lock-in at our church here in New Braunfels. Plans were to eat, have a time of worship, then go broom-balling in San Antonio. Broom-balling is basically street hockey, but with a ball instead of a puck, and on a rink instead of a frozen street. Anyways, the whole thing started with pizza and dodgeball. After that, we had an awesome hour or so of praise and worship. At 10 PM, we left for the San Antonio skating rink, about half an hour away, with my Dad as one of the volunteer drivers. Praise God for that, as the story will later tell! We got on the ice at 10:45, and eventually started a massive game, with about 20 or more people on each team. At say maybe...11:11, I slipped and fell.
Of course, those who saw me say I did a flip, but I just know that I fell too fast to remember, and my head hit the ice... hard. When I got to my knees, I saw a red waterfall coming from my forehead, and all I could think was uh-oh... Mrs. Gracie (one of the youth helpers), took off her sweater to wrap around my head in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. I walked off the ice, supported by two others. There at the ice-rink, I got a couple butterfly bandages to help curb the bleeding by drawing my skin back together. It was quickly decided, unanimously, that I had to go to the emergency room. We got to a nearby hospital within 15 minutes, and checked in decently quick. I was conscious the whole time, and in good spirits. I owe that to my dad, sister Jessie, and youth helper Mike. Thanks guys! They were all worried sick about me, and were with me the whole time in the hospital. Through it all though, we joked and laughed and tried to relieve the tension in the air.
Ok, time to backtrack a bit. I was later told I lost around a quart of blood on the ice. I was astounded. The whole time, from hitting my head, to as I write this, I have been pain free. The only burning sensation came when they cleaned it with water and soap at the hospital, and quick shots of pain as I realize certain facial expressions are not advisable to make yet. Also, had my Dad not been a volunteer driver, I wouldn't have gotten into a hospital room until he made it there from New Braunfels, 45 minutes away. God be praised! Ok, let me get back on track. At the hospital, I learned that I would need stitches, and everybody seemed amazed that I wasn't dazed at all. A couple needle pricks with a local anesthetic and 8 stitches later, we were basically free to go. After the required paperwork and clean-up, my Dad, Jessie, Mike and myself walked out of the hospital. It was only 1:45AM. If you don't believe that to be a miracle, how much more do you want?
The whole time, I had remained as cheerful as I could be, hoping it would be contagious. Besides, how not to be cheerful knowing that God had very easily just spared my life? God was with me in such a powerful way that whole time. Not once was I nervous abou
t my head, except when I learned there was to be needles involved in the anesthesia. God gave me incredible peace, and for some reason, stuck the song "Break Free" by Hillsong United in my head all night. The whole time, Mike insisted on my going home after getting out of the ER, but I was only going home if I was tied hands and feet and forced to go! By the time we got back to New Braunfels, Dad had given his assent to my staying at the lock-in as long as I drank lots of water, took it easy, and it was ok with our youth leader Keith. We stopped by Walgreens to get tylenol and an ointment to put on the stitches if needed. When we got to church, it was 2:30. I was allowed to stay! yeah!
Soon after, worship set number 2 began. Keith let me play bass with one condition: sit down to play. OK! As long as I can play! haha. The set was really good, and after TJ (drummer) had to leave, David (worship leader) and Mike played and sang acoustic worship for more than an hour. Everybody who was asleep by that time missed out. God continued to work and minister the way he had the whole night. Towards the end, I asked David to teach me "Break Free", since I still had it in my head! To this hour, I still don't know why that song... hmmm...
By the time Dad came to pick us up at 8, it had been a really awesome time. I was one of about 8 who stayed up allllllll night, and enjoyed it so much. As soon as my head touched pillow when I got home, I was out. I was awakened at 11 or so that morning to take Dad to the airport. He was leaving for Asia! oh yeah! A drive to the San Antonio airport and back gave me lots of time to continue to think about what God has done for me. How great He is! When we got back home, I promptly fell asleep again, until 5:30, when I got up to get ready for one of the Jymmi's (one of the youth) 16th birthday party. I got to bed at 10 Saturday night, and awoke at 6:30 on Sunday to get to church for music practice at 7:15. Church went well, worship was awesome, as God once more came to meet us, and the message from pastor Phil spoke powerfully. Now, it is 6:29 PM on Sunday the 18th, just 43 hours after my fall, and I have yet to experience any pain other than an obnoxious bump on my head! Praise you, Lord!
This whole incident has left me (instead of speechless) without enough opportunities to tell the whole story. It takes time to describe it all, but the main factors were God's protection from serious injury, his plan for Dad to be there, his pain-relieving hand, and his never-ending peace. He is awesome, mighty, powerful, amazing, wonderful!!!! Words cannot describe what he has done the past 48 hours in my life.
That will be all for this post, it is humongous already, and I hope people will take the time to read it! I will post a picture soon of the stitches, then will erase (maybe) this sentence (or maybe not). All I can say for certain is that God is great and his protection and love never cease! As I remember more small details that need to be written, I will include them in future posts. Keep your focus on God, no matter what the circumstance, and keep praising Him!
God bless all!
Aaron
