Every Day Is a Gift

Every day is a gift.  It’s a phrase often said and heard.  And yet most of us don’t fully realize the truth in it until something happens to get our attention. For me, it happened on a Saturday in November.  

My husband, P.G., had left that morning for once-a-year trip to meet up with some friends about 100 miles away.  I was planning to catch-up on some chores and attend a charity event later that day.  My 16-year-old son, Landry, was planning to meet some friends at their house to ride together to watch their high school girls volleyball team compete in the playoffs. 

When Landry got ready to leave, as usual I gave him a hug and told him that I loved him.  I told him to be careful, have fun, and keep me posted.  But Landry would never reach his destination. 

It was just past noon when I received the call.  It was a call no mother wants to receive.  The voice on the other end, a mom herself, calmly relayed that Landry had been in an accident.  She stated that he had been ejected from his truck but was still conscious.  She reassured me as best she could and informed me that an ambulance was on the way.  I left home immediately to rush to the scene.

As I headed out the door, I called P.G. to inform him.  He was almost an hour into his trip, so it would take some time for him to get back home.  I next called my mom and then my mother-in-law and asked them to inform the rest of our family and to pray. 

As I proceeded to the scene of the accident, I myself prayed and asked God to take care of Landry.  I cried and petitioned aloud to God … not just because Landry was so young and not just because he was my son, but because God had already brought Landry through so much for it to just end like this.

Landry is not a typical kid and has not had a typical life, starting with his birth.  My doctor thought I had miscarried when I was only seven weeks pregnant with Landry, but somehow his little heart kept beating against all odds.  That would be the first of many events and obstacles that Landry would face and overcome through the grace of God.  And I believed with all my heart that God was going to use these experiences to fulfill further purposes through Landry.

When I arrived at the scene of the accident, my mind couldn’t comprehend what I saw.  I expected to see Landry’s truck on the side of the road with Landry lying nearby.  Instead, I saw Landry’s truck in someone’s front yard, smashed up and lying on its side.  I then saw a group of people next to Landry, who was lying on the ground beneath a tree quite some distance from his truck.  I couldn’t wrap my mind around what had transpired. 

When I made it to Landry’s side, a gentleman next to him explained that this was where Landry had landed when he was ejected from his truck.  I turned to look again at the truck and how far away it was, and then I looked back in disbelief at Landry lying there. 

Landry’s truck had rolled multiple times, and later on Landry would recall being in the truck as it flipped – he said it was like he was floating with his arms raised weightless out to his sides.  His truck was still rolling when he was ejected.  And he wasn’t just ejected, he was catapulted.  He was thrown higher than the roofline of the house and flew through the limbs of the tree before landing beneath it. 

I would later tell Landry that angels must have carried him through the air, and in typical Landry fashion he quipped, “Well they threw me down pretty hard.”

The gentleman by Landry’s side explained to me that he had been talking to Landry to try to keep him alert.  Even as I sat there, Landry was struggling to stay awake.  He was in shock – his body was trembling, and he was moaning in pain.  I couldn’t find words, so I just began whispering, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus…”

The ambulance hadn’t yet arrived but would do so shortly.  Most everything from that point was a blur, but I remember the EMS personnel cutting off Landry’s shirt and putting a brace around his neck.  And I remember Landry screaming in pain as they moved him onto a stretcher to carry him to the ambulance. 

Soon I was informed that Landry would be airlifted to a trauma hospital.  I followed the ambulance to the location where the helicopter had landed a couple of miles away, where I was informed that there wasn’t room in the helicopter for me to accompany Landry.  So I made plans to make the two hour drive with P.G., who had arrived back home by now. 

The drive to the hospital seemed endless.  And it would be just the start of a process of waiting and trusting God over the next several weeks as we walked through various complications resulting from Landry’s treatment and recovery, some of which we are still walking through.  But Landry is home and doing much better now.  He is still receiving treatment and there are other potential complications that could develop, but we are continuing to trust in God and are thankful that He has brought us this far.

And it has been with the help of many prayers offered by others both near and far.  Numerous people have relayed how their neighborhoods, prayer groups, Sunday school classes, and entire church congregations have prayed for Landry and our family.  Those prayers have been felt and have meant so much to us.

And yet still, it has been hard and at times completely overwhelming.  There are various things that I have wrestled and struggled with, but not once have I questioned why God allowed this to happen.  Rather I have thanked God for sparing Landry’s life.  

I can’t tell you how many times I have replayed the scene in my mind and how it could have ended so differently.  Landry has been told countless times how lucky he is to be alive by everyone who hears his story, including the numerous medical personnel who treated him.  I know “lucky” is a term people use and which I’ve used myself, but the truth is, luck has nothing to do with it.  As Landry said himself a day or so after his accident, “I don’t believe in luck, I believe in God.” 

Landry is a walking miracle, and God has already used Landry’s story to impact others.  I don’t know what else God has planned for Landry.  I don’t know what other events big or small will transpire.  I don’t know how many breaths Landry has left in this life, just as I don’t know this for myself or anyone else for that matter.  All I know is that every day is a gift, and as I long as I have breath in me, I will give God praise.

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“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  James 1:17 (NIV)

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord.”  Psalm 150:6 (NIV)