Faith Travels from Blair and Beth Bartlett…               

                                               God Spared Our Lives!

 The Lord miraculously spared our lives in a horrific motor vehicle accident that took place on December 15th, 2004.  The night before the accident I worked a 12 hour shift and knocked off work the morning of the 15th.  After I had two or three hours sleep we departed for a day of Christmas shopping to Moncton, New Brunswick.  I was still weary after working the night shift so I asked my wife to drive.  While she was driving I fell asleep in the passenger seat.

We were traveling along a four-lane divided highway at 110 kilometers per hour when my wife grew drowsy because of the heat.  She closed her eyes for an instant and before we knew it, we drifted across to the left hand shoulder.  My wife came to when she heard the sound of gravel beneath the tires and the sickening thud of the van hitting a metal highway marker.  She desperately tried to bring the van under control and swerved to the right, darting across both lanes and careened down an incline, rolling at least once or twice and crashed into a rock face, all within 70 paces or so.  Had we traveled another 10 seconds further down the road, we would have gone off a bridge and plunged into a steep ravine.  Even so, damage to the van was substantial and it was written off.

The windshield was shattered, the rear window and four side windows were smashed out, three out of four tires blew, both air bags were deployed and the van’s frame twisted and dented beyond repair.  However, the front end of the van was hardly touched which was miraculous in itself.  Naturally speaking, the front end should have been stoved in like an accordion.  Mind boggling was the fact is that my wife and I didn’t even feel the impact!  To me it was just like we pulled over and parked!

The only thing I remember about all the mayhem going on is waking up when I heard my wife Beth calling my name.  I opened my eyes and I realized that we were off the highway and hurtling towards a rock wall.  I remember thinking that we were going to be killed but yet at peace of mind about it.  I had no doubt where I was going if the unthinkable happened!

The next sequence that I remember is realizing that we were stopped.  I turned to Beth to see if she was okay and noticed that she had blood on her face.  I asked her if she was all right and tried to reassure her.  I retrieved our cell phone out of her purse and I handed a passerby our phone and asked him to call 911.  When he was doing that  I moved around a bit to see if there was anything broken.  Other than a little discomfort in my lower back and a few little cuts I felt okay.  Being truly amazed that we ever survived such a horrendous crash, I got out and took several photographs of the wreckage. Bystanders were concerned that I was walking around, so I sat back down in the van and one of them covered me with a blanket in case of shock.  They were also looking after my wife. In hardly any time Emergency personnel arrived.

I informed one of the paramedics that I had already been walking around, but he advised me that Beth and I should be outfitted with cervical collars and be strapped securely to spine boards as a precaution.  Not wanting to take any chances, I told them go ahead and do what they have to do.  We were transported in separate ambulances to the nearest emergency department about 10 kilometers away.  The medical team examined us, took our blood pressures, took x-rays and administered tetanus shots because of the broken glass. The x-rays came back negative, meaning we had no broken bones!  They held us for observation for several hours and then discharged us with basically a clean bill of health.  They did however prescribe an ointment for the bruise on my wife’s cheek.

WE SURVIVED THIS HORRENDOUS ACCIDENT WITH NO BROKEN BONES, NO INTERNAL INJURIES INVOLVING VITAL ORGANS AND NO CUTS THAT NEEDED STITCHES!  SURELY THE LORD HAD HIS HAND UPON US!