1. Paul tells us in Phil. 1:3, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. . .” I feel the same way about
my Gateway and I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.
It was the first Saturday in September, 2008, our Daughter, Amy was about to deliver our
Granddaughter, Leslie and my wife, Susan had already gone to Mississippi to be withy he.
I was doing some yard work, trimming trees. For the last tree, I got the step ladder and stood one step
above the step that says, “Do not stand on this step or above.” I was thinking about listening to the new
football season as the Crimson Tide was to play on the radio and I planned to listen. But God had other
plans. All I remember is seeing the limb fall, and then all went black and settled into a deep restful sleep.
The next thing I knew, a man I did not know was looking down on me talking about calling the
paramedics. It was then that I realized that I had fallen some 8-12 feet. The stranger who was the
neighbor’s yard man took charge and got help from my other neighbors. So with the help of and through
the kindness of strangers, some of whom I knew and some of whom I did not know, I was taken care of.
They called 911 and the ambulance took me to the hospital when I spent 3 days in ICU and several more
days in the main ward with six broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken collar bone and undisclosed head
injuries. I thank my God upon every remembrance of those people, though I must confess I don’t
remember much of it.
Visiting me in the hospital, Glen and Donna Spivey brought me some clothes to wear and john and
Sherry Reese asked if I would like to recuperate for a week or so at their house since Susan was
providentially I Mississippi. I accepted. How gracious of all of them! John and Sherry nursed me and fed
me and put up with panic attacks at midnight and all sorts of body malfunctions.
When, after that when, Susan returned, John and Sherry and Glen and Donna helped me move home
with a life chair I was sleeping in acquired from another friend, Jane Reeves. As I was finally home, it
finally began to hit me what had hit me and I was humbled that God had let me live through not only the
fall, but the immediate aftermath. I thank my God upon every remembrance of John and Sherry and
Glen and Donna and Jane.
At home, the anxiety and depression began to set in as I had no more places to hide and nowhere to run
and nothing to run to because my running days were over.
John Reese came several times to take me to church. You may remember me sitting in the back basically
whimpering like a whipped puppy, sobbing and feeling tremendous self-pity. One Sunday, I was so bad
that Pat Ellis had to sit with his arm around me as though a father with his little son during the whole
service. I thank my God upon every remembrance of John and Pat my friend Bruno Resende who took
me to lunch and heard my confessions and I felt that all the sins I had ever committed needed to be
purged. Some other of you probably had to endure my confessions as well but you were all patient with
me and kind. I thank my God upon every remembrance of Bruno and the rest of you.
One day, I was especially low and Erika Cross and Paige Burton and their children rode their bikes over
to my house to see me and bring me some DVDs to watch. Paige told me what I might expect to come

2. with the depression.. I thank my God upon every remembrance of Erika and Paige for their love and
kindness to an old sheep who had lost his way.
Many others of you have been so kind to me and I thank my God upon every remembrance those
kindnesses , great and small.
Most of all though, I thank my God upon every remembrance of my God because He is my God. He was
with me through every step of the way, every pain, every surgery, every bout of anxiety, he poured
scripture into me head. He never left nor forsook me. He rode every wave with me, though sometimes
He had to lash me to the mast to keep me from drowning.
I have some lingering problems from this fall, but I am back and I thank God for that. Moreover, I thank
God not only in but FOR the whole episode, for what HE taught me for how he took me under his wing
and held me to his wounded bleeding side. Even when my ears ring, think that it is God talking to me in
a language that only he and I know and He is telling me that He loves me and will never leave me.
And I thank my God upon every remembrance of the fact that He will be with me to the end - - and
beyond.