Our walking miracle

God thank you for his life. Thank you for the man he is. Thank you for your protection. Thank you that he has more work to do for you in this life.

These are my selfish prayers because I know that if my husband Laurens were to die, he would be rejoicing in heaven with God. However, selfish they may be, we are glad he is here with us.

Less than 2 weeks ago, Laurens was driving along the road with 6 Haitian employees in our pick up truck, the next minute, he was head on with a 3000 gallon Mac truck. It hit them dead on. Here are the photos. No one was wearing seat-belts. There should have been deaths.

Grant and I got the call that there was an accident not far from the mission and Laurens was on the scene. We jumped into gear to go and help not thinking that Laurens was in the accident. As I was about to jump on my ATV to zoom down to the clinic, I got the call from Laurens. He said, "come quick and to make sure our Haitian director does not waste any time getting there". The tone of his voice told me something was very wrong. I asked if he was Ok and he said with a sigh, "yeah, but I need you guys here fast". Now you have to understand my husband. Always the cop, always in control of himself and the situation, so to hear the panic in his voice (however slight) my heart leaped with fear.

When we arrived on the scene I still did not know Laurens was in the accident until we pulled up and I saw my truck. My brain did some crazy flip flop of realization that Laurens was in this accident and then I saw him. Covered in blood (and I mean covered), cuts all over his head and hands, blood all over his pants, he was walking around pouring water on people's cuts and trying to calm them down.

After the Mac truck hit them head on, Laurens body flung forward splitting his head on the windshield and breaking his ribs on the steering wheel. His hands, that held so tightly to the steering wheel were sliced in countless places. When he got his bearings, he removed himself from the vehicle and proceeded to remove all the other victims from the car. He had them lying down and "semi- triaged" by the time we got there.

Seeing that Laurens was walking and talking and seemed to be oriented, I proceeded to tend to the other patients and the crowd. Grant arrived and we got everyone headed off to the hospital. There were many cuts, a broken femur, eye injuries and concussions. But no internal injuries and no deaths.

Then I turned to Laurens. Seeing him standing there covered in blood made me want to cry, but being in "doctor" mode I asked him, "are you sure you are OK?" He looked at me and said," No, I think I broke my ribs". Concerned about internal injuries, we rushed to the hospital where we confirmed the broken ribs and we stitched him all up.

When I look back on this event and I look at the car, I can't help but be in awe. Someone should have died. You don't come head to head with a 3000 gallon Mac truck without seat belts and survive. But everyone did. God has a plan for each and everyone of those survivors and we have already seen the effects. Many of our Haitian staff now have a strengthened faith in God for what He did that day. Many are in awe that an accident that they would usually be morning someone's death in, had only survivors. Many are in awe that Laurens would care enough about others to help them when he was hurting so bad. Many are praising God.

For those of you who prayed for Laurens and the others after the accident thank you. We couldn't have done it without you.