My Snow Skiing Accident in West Virginia Monday

  I was in a ski accident Monday morning Feb. 6, 2012 at Snowshoe Mt. Resort, in WV.  I had been saving for this trip and looking forward to it for months.  It was kind of a Christmas/Birthday gift from my wife, and I took a young father from my church, Scott Dicke, one of our trustees, as he loves snow skiing also and had never ski'd outside of Ohio before. Monday was Scott's birthday, so this was his birthday present from his wife.   I wanted him to experience one of the best in the East, and Coletta INSISTED that I take another guy with me "in case something would happen."

I had a new goose down black ski jacket, a new bright green florescent shell wind breaker, new gloves that matched my helmet and I was ready to take on the "Double Black Diamonds!"   My first skiing for this winter, and Scott wanted to start out on the beginner slopes until he got warmed up.   That was fine with me, cos the beginner slopes at Snowshoe are long and beautiful and have some pitch to them also.

We were both acting like Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed as we were strapping our helmets on and shoving our gloves on at my mini-van.  Temps just under freezing and the sun was bouncing off the granulated snow.  We beat most people to the chair lift, did a few stretches, and snapped our boots into our skis.  Scott asked me to lead the way, because he didn't know which slope to start with.

We took two long runs and had a blast.  At Snowshoe, one major difference is that you start at the top where the lodge's, restaurants and shops are, you park up on the top and then ski down to a mountain lake.  THEN, you ride the chair lift back up where all the cars and stores are. 

On our third run down a beginner slope, it was pretty steep to start out with, so I let the "steep" gravitate me to a high speed and then when the steep slope leveled, I hit a thick groove of granulated snow and instead of the ski's just crashing though the "ice snow,"  it caught my sky tip on my right ski, and as the ski's stayed, I went.

I rolled about three times and the impact was so hard I think I would have cracked my skull,  but thank the Lord, I wear a helmet.  Scott stopped beside me asking me if I was O. K. and I tried to get up, could not, and I said, no, I'm hurt.  I thought my back was broke.  I asked Scott, my friend from our church to stick my ski's uphill from my body in the snow making a cross with the ski tips pointing upward towards the ski and holler for help.

The ski patrol took me on a board sled to  a chair lift and hauled me up to the top of the mountain in a mummy sled strapped to a straight board with my neck in a brace.  An Ambulance took me to Pocahontas Memorial hospital in Buckeye, WV.

The E.R. staff pulled my outer clothes off of me and started doing all the normal checks for ski injuries.  Monday, I had 2 E.K. G's and all total in this ordeal, I had three CAT Scans.  After nearly a day strapped to a hard board with a neck brace on, the E. R. staff at the Pocahontas Hospital gave me morphine and at the same time a nitroglycerin pad on my chest due to my severe back, chest and arm pains.  The E R. doc thought possibly my heart was bruised.

I started to pass out from the morphine and nitro, so E R did a "stat" and about 7 hospital staff people ran into the E. R. and started working on me like crazy with some real FEARFUL LOOKS.  Most "good Christians" would tell you they weren't afraid at all.   I will tell you the truth.  I was horrified!  But, I prayed to Jesus and asked Him to comfort me and give me peace.  I told him I was ready if he wanted me (but, I didn't want to go to heaven right then).  Jesus did give me peace!  

The E. R. Staff  were all being quiet, whispering and asking me some very serious questions.    My blood pressure dropped like an elevator going down to the basement and my heart rate also dropped rapidly.  Life Flight was called from W V University Medical Hospital Trauma Center.

A rain storm came and the chopper could not land at Pocahontas Hospital, so the Helicopter dispatcher asked ambulance to drive to Buckhannon Airport where the storm had not come yet and the skies were clear.  The ambulance took me on a 2 hour drive.  The chopper and medical flight team met us at the Buckhannon Airport and flew me on to Morgantown, WV.  I learned that I was being taken to the top trauma team in the state of West Virginia. 

They called in a Priority "One" from the chopper and after landing on the hospital roof, the Medi-flight nurses ran me into the Trauma E. R. due to possible heart trouble and the allergic reaction I had to the morphine and nitro.  The next morning, the Trauma Center chaplain and the main Trauma doctor of the hospital both explained to me that when they get a "P-One" on their communication radios from a chopper that that means, "Move all the other patience out of the way and bring in your main trauma team now!"

I thank God for Scott Dicke for sacrificing your birthday ski trip to stay by my side through such a nightmare, and a wonderful church family and friends around the world praying for me. Someone asked me,  "When did you know you were going to be O. K."  And I said when my beautiful blue eyed "Coletta" walked into my hospital room!  Thanks also to Deacon Fabian Canales and his wife, Dolores from our church for driving my lovely wife to West Virginia to be with me, and the return trip back to Van Wert, Ohio.  Another huge blessing is that  I just learned yesterday that I had people in China and Africa praying for me.

However, of all of this,  probably the thing that has stirred my heart the most is that my brother, Johnny who has been a Medi-flight pilot in OK City, OK for years learned about my accident and already knew that the medical flight company that flew me is the same company Johnny flies for.   He has called me 4 times, then waited until my helicopter flight crew got back to their base airport in Buckhannon, WV.  and called them at 2:00 in the morning to thank them for flying his "little preacher brother" to help save my life.

I'm home now and getting better every day.  I can't say enough to thank you for praying for Coletta and me through all of this.  I'm closer to God now, and all my pastoral E. R. calls in the future will never be the same.  I also picked up several new sermon illustrations and have some good used ski equipment for sale.

I only broke two ribs right behind my collar bones, my chest, back and shoulders are very bruised, but, my head and neck are O K,  and PRAISE GOD,   my back is not broke.  

Thanks for your phone calls, Emails and prayers.

Love in Christ,

Jim Burns, Pastor

Liberty Baptist Church

Van Wert, OH

PS.  We have met our health insurance deductible!

Email:  jimmycburns@aol.com 

 

HAITIAN PASTOR SPOKE AT LIBERTY!

Pastor Thierry Belade from Haiti preached and gave his Christian testimony at our church last night.  This is the first year Pastor Belade has ever been to the U.S.  We had several visitors and a house full at church last night. 

I think he preached about an hour or more, but it was packed with spirit, emotion and the power of the Holy Spirit.  He left Van Wert today on a bus to New York to meet up with his wife and his baby boy that was just born a few weeks ago.  Due to complications during pregnancy, Mrs. Belade was flown to New York for medical care.  She and the baby are doing fine.   Please pray for the Belade family as they return to their mission work in Haiti.  Pastor Belade has started 13 churches and is the overseer of the mission that helped start these Baptist Churches.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

God blessed me in a great way this week end.  Coletta and I went to Bear Creek Farms in Indiana for a nice dinner out on Friday night.  Our church music leader, Fabian Canales and his wife Dolores took us out to Bob Evans Saturday night for our 35th Anniversary, and our church surprised us with a nice card and love offering at church today.   The Lord brought us 137 today at church, with many visitors in our worship service.  20 of our regulars were either in the hospital or out of town for Father's Day, so when they are back, we are  really looking to see "growth" at Liberty this summer!   The spirit of our church last Sunday and today has been excellent.  We have a renewed joy and freedom in the services that we have not seen in years!

Plus, I had a great Father's Day also. My granddaughter, Miley and her mom, Jenny in Kansas called us Thursday.  My son, Matt called me Saturday and Sunday, and I got a wonderful E-card and a "Skype" phone call from our youngest son, Aaron in China.  Great Father's Day gifts and a wonderful wife, Coletta, who has put up with me for 35 years as of yesterday.

I don't believe in luck or chance, but if I did I could say with Lou Gehrig, "I'm the luckiest man alive!"   Thanks everyone for making our Anniversary and my Father's Day so very special.

EASTER SUCCESS AT LIBERTY!

God blessed Liberty in a marvelous way yesterday at our 2011 Easter Service Sunday morning. Nearly every available seat was taken for our annual Easter Breakfast organized by our head Deacon, Jerry Miller. Our church men, teens, and even some of our Jr. age children helped fix food, take orders, and serve our guests.


The breakfast was followed by a 20 minute Easter Cantata, “Love Grew Where the Blood Fell.” Coletta Burns organized and coordinated this presentation and Choir Director, Fred Heimann directed the cantata. This was Fred’s very first cantata as our Choir Director, and both he and my wife, Coletta did excellent work. The singers were made up of our adult choir and a female teen quartet from our youth group.

After our Resurrection congregational singing lead by Song Leader, Fabian Canales, I was honored to preach a brief sermon on the Evidence of Christ’s Resurrection from the Bible and changed lives. With many friends, neighbors, and relatives coming to worship as our special guests, the Lord brought us a total of 168 people to this unified Easter Resurrection service.

God is good all the time, but He really showered His blessings on us this Easter to make this year’s worship and service very special.  That's "Something to Think About!"   

Jim C. Burns, Sr. Pastor
Email:  jimmycburns@aol.com

GOOD BYE, MATT, JENNY & MILEY BURNS !

Two days from this writing, my daughter in law, Jenny and our only granddaughter, Miley will be moving from Ohio to Kansas. Our oldest son, Matt will be finishing out his a/c - heating work for a company in Marion, Ohio and plans to join his wife and daughter May 13th. Matt and Jenny have lived near Marion, OH since their marriage and Miley was born in Marion 3 and 1/2 years ago at the same hospital where her "Nanny Burns" was born.

Moving "back to Kansas" where both Matt and Jenny were raised and attended school is a dream come true to them. They will be close to old friends, and family that still lives in Hutchinson and other nearby towns. Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz sang, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and when speaking of Kansas, she would close her eyes, click her heals and whisper, "There's no place like home." So, this beautiful "Burns' Trio" will have a new home not far from where "Dorothy" was from back where it all started.

Coletta and I are very happy for them. Just as we were excited with every new location the Lord moved us to during our earlier years of marriage and ministry, Matt, Jenny, and Miley are experiencing an adventure of a life time. Having said that, we will miss them dearly. Coletta and I are already starting to feel some of the "loneliness" that Miley's Grandpa and Grandma Riley have likely felt being so far away from their only granddaughter while Miley lived in Prospect, Ohio.  But as always, just like having our other son, Aaron in China, God's grace is always sufficient for changes in our lives like this one.

But, we will stay in touch and continue to be close even though many miles will be between us. Please pray for them in their journey back to Kansas, and for Miley as she adjusts to her new home and surroundings. We love you guys more than you will ever know, and we will see you again as soon as we can!

I'm "Papa Burns" writing for me AND NANNY BURNS, and that's something to think about!

JESUS SAID; BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES. (Matt. 16:6)

(John 8:7 - 12) So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:7 – 12)

The Religious Pharisees of Jesus’ day wanted to stone sinners. But Jesus loved this woman and wanted to win her to forgiveness and salvation. May God help we as Christians and the Church get back to loving people into the Kingdom rather than trying to “get them to act” the way we think they should act. Striving to force Christian convictions on people who might not even claim to be believers, when we as church members often fail miserably to “act right” is the height of hypocrisy. People who fall in love with Jesus will want to behave in a way that pleases Him. And, it will come from their hearts.
Jim Burns, Sr. Pastor, Liberty Baptist Church, Van Wert, OH. This is something to think about.

HERE'S THE CHURCH, BUT WHERE'S THE PEOPLE?

That's Something to think about!   Jim C. Burns
Email:  jimmycburns@aol.com