My wife Chalagne often walks our dog at what she calls "the special

place", a path in a park that Chalagne discovered shortly after 9/11,

which reminded her of the words of Psalm 23 and which God used to

bring her much comfort. She continues to go for walks there regularly,

and I often go with her. The photo of the two of us above was taken there

in the summer of 2004.

       The day after Christmas, Sunday, December 26, after church, we

went to walk our dog and our daughter's dogs there. As we were

approaching the woods, Chalagne told me to watch out for a patch of

ice. The next thing she heard was a loud thwack, and she turned around

to see me flat on my back, staring up at the sky and not moving. She

cried out "Oh Bill I love you", held my head in her arms. I didn't respond.  

She said the feeling she had about my condition was that I was at the top

 of a pyramid, and could roll down in either direction. She started

shouting "Jesus help us! Jesus help us!" Almost immediately she was

aware that two tall young men stood behind us, dressed in jogging

outfits. The one in blue took the dogs leashes. The one in white helped

me to my feet. It was only then I began to speak. The man in white asked

if I needed help. I said I was all right and that i'd feel better if I'd continue

walking. I do not remember any of this. But as we walked in the woods I

told Chalagne I didn't know where I was. We turned around and went

back to the car. Chalagne sang an old church chorus we knew "I am

healed. I am whole. From the top of my head to my soul to the tip of  

my toes. First Peter 2:24 says we were. And if we were, then I am."

       When we got home I was still disoriented and couldn't remember

Christmas or anything else, although I was described as being in good

spirits. I was taken by ambulance to a hospital and had a catscan. It was

determined that I had a slight concussion. I was sent home. I kept

repeating the same questions over and over for several hours, even

making the same joke "Will I be able to play the harp?" and then saying

"Did I say that joke already?" I did this hundreds of times.

     At 10 PM I told Chalagne I wanted to call Rev. Wayne DeLatte, from

the Interfaith Foundation in Ohio, a pastor with a prophetic ministry who

often writes to me. I genuinely believe, after several remarkable personal

past experiences, that Rev. Wayne has been used as an instrument of

God in my life, both in counseling and prayer. After calling him, I stopped

repeating myself, and at this point I remember subsequent happenings.

A few weeks earlier Reverend Wayne had written this to me in a letter:

"You are close to an experience with God that can be compared with

the event Moses went through with the 'burning bush'. You are at the

inception of a 'life-changing' realization that will effect the way you

think and feel about everything you now believe to be important." This

experience I am convinced was that.

   Somehow during this period which I do not remember, I sensed God's

presence and His communication to me, and thoughts and feelings

emerged along with my memory. I had an overwhelming feeling that God

was taking care of everything and I didn't have to do anything (which has

not been my natural feeling up to this point). I also had a deep awareness

that God had given me my life back and that it now belonged to Him, not

me. I intend to keep it that way. I also had an overwhelming sense of

God's love, that God IS love, as I John says, and an intense sense of

God's love for every person. I kept saying "God loves atheists as much

as He does Christians". When I would think of particular people I'd start

to cry with love for them. I had a profound sense of the importance of

people, that they are made to help and support each other, and can do

so much better when they draw from the well of God's love for them.

There were a lot of other insights I kept getting as well that second day.

Chalagne suggested I write them down,  which I did. I won't share them

now. As my memory returned, the spiritual intensity of the experience

diminished, but I can never be the same again, and I don't want to

be. The feeling is somewhat like Scrooge the day after: "I'm not the man

I used to be". As our Pastor, Russ Shopland says, God provides

"readiness moments" in our lives, places of spiritual advancement.

I consider this an important one. Right after this I resumed work on a

song cycle entitled "Acts of Kindness"  I found it easier to compose

after this experience than before.

     Someone told Chalagne afterwards that she should get a cell phone.

She said she was glad that she didn't have one, because it made her call

Jesus first, before 911. And if I could relate briefly a similar story that

happened on that same day, December 26 2004. You might remember

that date from the news:

   When I called the Villuris, friends and members of our church who

come from India (we are their son Sammy's godparents), after telling my

story, I asked how her family in India was. Nita Agnes explained that her

sister Theresa had decided to go to the beach with her aunt and uncle on

December 26. She was standing on a rock embankment above the

water when the Tsunami hit. Suddenly she was swept up in the water and

couldn't touch anything solid. Like my wife, she also cried out to Jesus to

help her. A fisherman pulled her out of the water. She and her family were

all all right. Thanks be to God.

    Let us remember the words from Romans 10:13, "For whosoever

shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved". We are not alone.

The best is yet to be! Whoever you are, wherever you are, geographically

or spiritually, may God truly bless each and every one of you.

                

                                                                          - - - Bill Vollinger