KEPT ALIVE FOR A REASON

KEPT ALIVE FOR A REASON

by Ken Simmons

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? ??Each morning my wife and I spend time reading the Bible and praying together to start off the day, and today somehow we ended up discussing why I had been kept alive for these 80+ years. Let’s take a look-see at the number of times that all this might have been cut short.

? ??The first time I could have easily been killed was when I was 8 years old and living in Socorro, New Mexico. I was walking through an apple orchard and I decided to pick a low-hanging apple from a nearby tree. I no sooner had the apple in my hand than I heard a shot ring out and a bullet hit a branch only inches from my head. I looked to see where the shot came from and I saw a man standing on his porch with a rifle some 75 yards away, and apparently he had shot at me for taking one of his apples. I never knew whether he had deliberately missed, or if his intentions were more sinister.?

? ??Next was when I was 11 and living in North Long Beach, California. Our home was only a few feet away from the Los Angeles River, and that riverbed was where I spent much of my time exploring. Occasionally we’d catch *crawdads and when we had a small bucket full my Dad would cook them up, and we’d have a meal of them. At that time the L.A. River had not been lined with concrete, so I spent much of my time exploring in the riverbed. I’d heard that a few weeks earlier a horse from the nearby riding stable had been caught in quicksand in the river and had died, and it wasn’t long before I found that quicksand – yep, I’d found myself up to my neck in quicksand and my brother and his friend managed to pull me out by extending our Dad’s rifle to me, and I managed to grab hold of the barrel as they pulled me through the mud to safety. I was never sure if my Mom was more upset because I was up to my neck in mud, or if I’d nearly been killed by the quicksand.?

? ??In the early 1970’s I, along with two of my friends, one of whom I’d led to the Lord during my ministry in Lakeland, Florida, were scuba diving off the coast near Ft. Lauderdale, and my buddies had spotted a large lobster that they decided to try to dislodge from some rocks. We were about 40 ft. underwater at the time, when I soon spotted a large shark a few hundred feet south of me, and I noticed the shark was slowly moving in my direction. It finally came close enough that I could tell it was a big tiger shark, with the typical dark stripes on its side, likely some 12-15 ft. long and it began to circle me. Having previously seen shark documentaries I wasn’t surprised when it then began to come close enough to bump me, which they do in an attempt to see if you are easy prey, but instead I decided to make that big shark think that I was some crazy maniac and I began to attack it, blowing bubbles, waving my arms and growling and waving my knife at it. Luckily that worked as that big tiger shark scurried away. I wasn’t about to let that big kitty-cat have me for lunch.?

? ??During that same period of time in Lakeland I often spent my afternoons swimming in an abandoned phosphate pit that had been converted into a beach for swimming, complete with lifeguard. This particular phosphate pit was about a 100 ft. x 300 ft. rectangular lake with a small island at the far end of it and I would often swim out to that little island and rest before swimming back to the beach. During this time I had become quite well-known in the Lakeland area due to the favorable publicity from the local newspapers which often featured my work with troubled young people, so I was not surprised during a swim back to the beach when a small group of people were waving at me. Due to all of the press coverage I received during those years It was not unusual for someone to approach me and say, *“Are you “the” Ken Simmons?” Anyway, I thought that they possibly had recognized me and were waving just to let me know they knew who I was, so I briefly stopped swimming and waved back. ? ??

? ??I then resumed my swimming the 75 yards or so back to the beach when I noticed they were still waving, and when I stopped again I heard one of those waving, shouting, “Alligator, alligator!” I briefly looked back and saw this large alligator heading towards me. I’d always been a fairly good swimmer but that day I became a championship swimmer, and I made sure that alligator didn’t have me for lunch either. When I reached the shore I looked back as the ‘gator disappeared into the murky water. ? ??

? ??This was likely the same alligator that had caught my friend Dale while swimming at that same phosphate pit. It grabbed him and pulled him to the bottom, and then tried to stuff him under a log. Apparently alligators want you to rot a while before eating you. Anyway, Dale managed to get free, but he required more than 100 stitches to patch him up after that alligator attack.?

? ??The next time I faced such dangers was during the mid 1970s. I often went to the Fun ‘n Sun Fly-In in Lakeland where airplane enthusiasts came from all across America to show off their airplanes as well as their flying skills, and one of those who came was the actor Cliff Robertson, who had starred in the 1963 film “PT109,” portraying the life of John F. Kennedy during World War II. While there Robertson’s wife, actress Dina Merrill, who was the heir of the Post cereal fortune, and she and I spoke for a while before being introduced to her husband Cliff Robertson. Since I was also a part-time professional photographer I wanted to get some mid-air pictures of Robertson since I’d learned he was going to be flying an aerobatic biplane in a few moments, and when I suggested we get some pictures, Robertson suggested I go up in another plane, similar to the one he’d be flying, and get some aerial photographs. Prior to that time I had not known that Robertson was such a skilled pilot, especially while flying in aerobatic maneuvers.?

? ??So, here I was sitting in the back seat of an open-cockpit Stolp Starduster biplane and Robertson took off in an identical plane owned by a local doctor, and off we flew. Prior to takeoff I’d said I wanted to get some great pictures close enough so that Robertson could be recognized in the photos, but little did I know the plan was for both airplanes to fly in un-rehearsed aerobatics. That simply meant that both pilots were going to “improvise,” with one taking the lead and the other trying to match the same maneuvers. Had I known just how difficult and dangerous these unrehearsed maneuvers would be I might not have agreed, but I soon found I was in an airplane doing loops, rolls, and Emmelman maneuvers, all unrehearsed.?

? ??Prior to takeoff I had also told the pilot that should we encounter smooth air I wanted to be able to unfasten my seatbelt briefly, turn around and get some head-on pictures of Robertson flying his plane directly toward us, and then refasten the seatbelt. And, just as planned, I managed to get those amazing head-on pictures, and yes, with an unfastened seatbelt. Apparently the pilot seated in front of me had thought I’d already fastened the belt, but I soon found myself upside down in an open-cockpit biplane and because of the high-G maneuvers I couldn’t fasten the seatbelt. During one full loop I saw my best telephoto lens fall from my lap and disappear into swampland below. Then and there I decided this was a “one-off” experience, never to be repeated.?

? ??Who knows? Had my enemy, the devil, tried to take me out those several times, or was it just **coinkydink as my late kid-brother Les used to say? Whatever the answer I do know that during my lifetime I have been honored and blessed to lead many people to Christ, seen many healed, many set free from demonic torment, and been able to share the Good News of Jesus with thousands. Because of that I recognize that I have been blessed beyond measure.?

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* I was always grateful when people came up to me and thanked me for the work I was doing. However, all of the favorable publicity made me all the more recognizable, for better or for worse. It was also during that time (1972-1973?) that the City of Lakeland had named me “Man of the Year,” and the local newspaper, the Lakeland Ledger, recognizing that fact with a headline reading the same, making the publicity all the more problematic. However, that publicity opened many more doors that would have otherwise remained closed, including many high schools in which my team and I were given opportunities to share our stories with troubled young people, often with miraculous results. The recognition was appreciated, but to this day I give all of the credit to my Lord Jesus Christ,?

? ??**Crawdads, i.e., small crayfish that resemble tiny little lobsters.?

? ??***Coinkydink (coincidence).

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