"The LORD Preserveth the Simple."

"I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
The sorrows of death compassed me,
Then called I upon the name of the LORD;
The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me."
(taken from Psalm 116).

I am overwhelmed at the grace and mercy God has shown my family and me this past weekend. My youngest child, Garrett (the three year old mentioned in some of my articles), was spared. He nearly drowned Sunday afternoon, April 23rd, at a pool party for his older brother's baseball team. Reflecting on the events that happened that day are difficult and yet joyful.

I heard the name of the team coach, Larry (who happens to be a paramedic) being shouted by multiple voices. One voice I recognized, that of my wife. It sounded desperate. I stepped around the corner of the patio. Larry was a step ahead of me. I knew that someone had been in danger in the water. I looked over from where the voices were coming and my greatest fear had come to be, the child on the ground was one of my own, my youngest, only three years old.

Now running I arrived to find my wife frantically trying to expel the water and substances from Garrett's body after snatching him out of the swimming pool. He was not breathing. Larry grabbed him and also began to work the fluids out. So far so good except that for several minutes there was still no breath. Panic set in. Thoughts of death set in. Our cries out to the Lord were rushing throughout all of us like never before. He started to slip away with every passing second, you could see it in his color, in his eyes. Then, by a miraculous act of the Lord, Garrett began to gasp and fight to breathe. Finally, we heard crying. His little lungs sucked in the air he needed. His life had been preserved! I called upon the name of the Lord and he helped. "The LORD preserveth the simple." The fire department came. We took him to the hospital and later that evening after hours of examination the doctors released Garrett to go home. Other fire department crews in the area that heard the emergency call were expecting an unhappy ending. They told us later that rarely, in these kinds of calls, does the child make it.

My wife and I cannot find the words to express the gratitude to God we have for saving Garrett's life. I thank God for putting my wife and Larry at the scene to be used by God to save my son's life. He is perfect today. He's running and playing throughout the house with his brothers and sisters like nothing ever even happened. No damage done to his body or brain from a lack of oxygen.

I also cannot even begin to fathom in the slightest degree how it is the Maker of heaven and earth spared not his only Son, but willingly gave Him up for sinners such as me. He did not stop the death of his Son. Now I can be forgiven! Thank you God. May God be forever praised!

-KCO