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A beautiful story.... please read when you have time.
This is a true story that occurred in 1994 and told by Lloyd
Glen. On July 22nd I was en route to Washington DC for a business
trip. It was all so very ordinary, until we landed in Denver
for a plane change. As I collected my belongings from the
overhead bin, an announcement was made for Mr.Lloyd Glenn
to see the United Customer Service Representative immediately.
I thought nothing of it until I reached the door to leave
the plane and I heard a gentleman asking every male if they
were Mr. Glenn. At this point I knew something was wrong and
my heart sunk.
When I got off the plane a solemn-faced young man came toward
me and said, "Mr. Glenn there is an emergency at your
home. I do not know what the emergency is, or who is involved,
but I will take you to the phone so you can call the hospital.
My heart was now pounding, but the will to be calm took over.
Woodenly, I followed this stranger to the distant telephone
where I called the number he gave me for the Mission Hospital.
My call was put through to the trauma center where I learned
that my three-year-old son had been trapped underneath the
automatic garage door for several minutes, and that when my
wife had found him he was dead. A neighbor, who is a doctor,
had performed CPR, and the paramedics had continued the treatment
as Brian was transported to the hospital.
By the time of my call, Brian was revived and they believed
he would live, but they did not know how much damage had been
done to his brain, nor to his heart. They explained that the
door had completely closed on his little sternum right over
his heart. He had been severely crushed. After speaking with
the medical staff, my wife sounded worried but not hysterical,
and I took comfort in her calmness.
The return flight seemed to last forever, but finally I arrived
at the hospital six hours after the garage door had come down.
When I walked into the intensive care unit, nothing could
have prepared me to see my little son lying so still on a
great big bed with tubes and monitors everywhere. He was on
a respirator. I glanced at my wife who stood and tried to
give me a reassuring smile. It all seemed like a terrible
dream. I was filled in with the details and given a guarded
prognosis. Brian was going to live, and the preliminary tests
indicated that his heart was OK-two miracles, in and of themselves.
But only time would tell if his brain received any damage.
Throughout the seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm.
She felt that Brian would eventually be all right. I hung
on to her words and faith like a lifeline. All that night
and the next day Brian remained unconscious. It seemed like
forever since I had left for my business trip the day before.
Finally at two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained consciousness
and sat up uttering the most beautiful words I have ever heard
spoken, He said, "Daddy hold me," and he reached
for me with his little arms.
By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological
or physical deficits, and the story of his miraculous survival
spread throughout the hospital. You cannot imagine our gratitude
and joy. As we took Brian home we felt a unique reverence
for the life and love of our Heavenly Father that comes to
those who brush death so closely. In the days that followed
there was a special spirit about our home. Our two older children
were much closer to their little brother. My wife and I were
much closer to each other, and all of us were very close as
a whole family. Life took on a less stressful pace. Perspective
seemed to be more focused, and balance much easier to gain
and maintain. We felt deeply blessed. Our gratitude was truly
profound.
Almost a month later to the day of the accident, Brian awoke
from his afternoon nap and said, "Sit down mommy. I have
something to tell you." At this time in his life, Brian
usually spoke in small phrases; so to say large sentence surprised
my wife. She sat down with him on his bed and he began his
sacred and remarkable story.
"Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door?
Well it was so heavy and it hurt really badly. I called to
you, but you couldn't hear me. I started to cry, but then
it hurt too bad. And then the "birdies" came "The
birdies?" my wife asked puzzled. "Yes," he
replied. "The birdies" made a whooshing sound and
flew into the garage.
They took care of me." "They did?" "Yes,
he said." "One of the "birdies" came and
got you. She came to tell you I got stuck under the door."
A sweet reverent feeling filled the room. The spirit was so
strong and yet lighter than air. My wife realized that a three
year-old had no concept of death and spirits, so he was referring
to the beings who came to him from beyond as "birdies"
because they were up in the air like birds that fly. "What
did the birdies look like?" she asked. Brian answered.
"They were so beautiful. They were dressed in white all
white. Some of them had green and white. But some of them
had on just white."
"Did they say anything?" "Yes" he answered.
They told me the baby would be alright." "The baby?"
my wife asked confused. And Brian answered. "The baby
laying on the garage floor." He went on, "You came
out and opened the garage door and ran to the baby. You told
the baby to stay and not leave."
My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, for she had indeed
gone and knelt beside Brian's body and seeing his crushed
chest and unrecognizable features, knowing he was already
dead, she looked up around her and whispered, "Don't
leave us Brian, please stay if you can. As she listened to
Brian telling her the words she had spoken, she realized that
the spirit had left his body and was looking down from above
on this little lifeless form.
"Then what happened?" she asked. "We went on
a trip." he said, "far, far away." He grew
agitated trying to say the things he didn't seem to have the
words for. My wife tried to calm and comfort him, and let
him know it would be okay. He struggled with wanting to tell
something that obviously was very important to him, but finding
the words was difficult.
"We flew so fast up in the air." "They're so
pretty Mommy." he added. "And there is lots and
lots of "birdies". My wife was stunned. Into her
mind the sweet comforting spirit enveloped her more soundly,
but with urgency she had never before known.
Brian went on to tell her that the 'birdies' had told him
that he had to come back and tell everyone about the "birdies".
He said they brought him back to the house and that a big
fire truck, and an ambulance were there A man was bringing
the baby out on a white bed and he tried to tell the man the
baby would be okay, but the man couldn't hear him. He said,
"birdies told him he had to go with the ambulance, but
they would be near him. He said, they were so pretty and so
peaceful, and he didn't want to come back.
And then the bright light came. He said that the light was
so bright and so warm, and he loved the bright light so much.
Someone was in the bright light and put their arms around
him, and told him, "I love you but you have to go back.
You have to play baseball, and tell everyone about the birdies."
Then the person in the bright light kissed him and waved bye-bye.
Then whoosh, the big sound came and they went into the clouds."
The story went on for an hour. He taught us that "birdies"
were always with us, but we don't see them because we look
with our eyes and we don't hear them because we listen with
our ears. But they are always there, you can only see them
in here (he put his hand over his heart). They whisper the
things to help us to do what is right because they love us
so much. Brian continued, stating, "I have a plan, Mommy.
You have a plan. Daddy has a plan. Everyone has a plan. We
must all live our plan and keep our promises.
The "birdies help us to do that cause they love us so
much." In the weeks that followed, he often came to us
and told all or parts of it again and again. Always the story
remained the same. The details were never changed or out of
order. A few times he added further bits of information and
clarified the message he had already delivered. It never ceased
to amaze us how he could tell such detail and speak beyond
his ability when he spoke of his "birdies."
Everywhere he went, he told strangers about the "birdies".
Surprisingly, no one ever looked at him strangely when he
did this. Rather, they always get a softened look on their
face and smiled. Needless to say, we have not been the same
ever since that day, and I pray we never will be.
... Because of Christ
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Disclaimer
(These stories have been extracted from various sources solely for enjoyment and are not meant to infringe any copyright laws)
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