My Brush With Death

?A Near-Death Experience?

By Jordan Blake Michiels

A near-death experience (NDE) is said to be a profound personal experience and often involves an out-of-body experience often with warm light or glowing tunnel of light, calm, serenity, and a feeling of complete safety and absolute love. There are many stories out there on the internet. YouTube videos, blogs, and articles. Before we put a label on my experience please allow me to share with you my story as I remember it.

I was 17 years old and like many of my friends, I had an after-school job working at a fast-food establishment. The shift I worked got off at 1 am in the morning. My dad had purchased a 1974 Triumph Spitfire convertible that needed a little body work to look pristine. My dad and I buffed and polished every inch of that car. My dad trusted me to drive the new trophy to and from school and work. The Spitfire only had lap seat belts which will become relevant in a moment.

One night on my way home from work in the pitch black of the early morning an oncoming car swerved into my lane and as I took to the right shoulder to avoid a head-on collision the car went airborne and was flipped upside down. I remember seeing the asphalt and lines of the road coming toward me through the windshield and with my seat belt on all I could think was this is it! Being a pastor’s kid and hearing the many sermons about Jesus’ last word on the cross I out of instinct raised my hands and said: “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit”. In an instant, everything went silent and I felt a very strong and comforting hand on my chest and someone holding me from behind. I remember feeling breath on my neck and I felt like I was floating. I heard no music and saw no lights because my eyes were closed.

In the silence, I felt safe, but I was not comfortable enough to open my eyes. Then, just as suddenly I felt something gently touching my face like floating over a field of grain, and then the hand slid out from beneath me and the sound of the car crashing was so loud I thought it was going to hit me. However, the car slid upside down in the ditch to tap me on my right thigh before coming to a stop. As I opened my eyes I was face down in the ditch and I pulled my leg out from under the tail light. The tires were still spinning and steam was billowing up from the hoses that were now no longer connected. I hobbled up to the side of the road and almost immediately there was a young man in a pickup truck that just happened to have a blanket on his front seat. He explained he was in a training rescue program and he wrapped me in the blanket and helped me get on the tailgate of his truck until the ambulance arrived.

After the police had the car turned back over and did their investigation the officer asked me if I was sitting on my seat belt. I told him, “No, I had it on”. To which he responded, Well, your guardian angel must have worked a miracle for you tonight.” I remember answering, “Yes Sir.” After which he stated, “I have to give somebody a ticket and you are the only one around, so that would be you.”

After the accident, I had several questions if we exclude what I know is the truth and try to explain this from a natural perspective. First, how did I get out of that seat belt? Because it was still buckled, still intact following the accident. The doors were still locked. Second, I was going 50 miles an hour and the top was up and fastened, even if I was somehow thrown from the car...how did I land before the car did?... And even more without being totally messed up? I had no broken bones, no cuts, no scratches, just a bruise on my leg where the tail light had tapped me. How does something like that happen?

I should be dead. I should have died that night. All of the physical facts say I should not have survived that car accident. The only explanation is the one no one believed.

I did not have an out-of-body experience, I can not say I saw Jesus or angels, and I did not see a warm glowing light calling to me. What I did have was a profound personal encounter with a wonderful presence that left me with a knowing deep in my soul that there is more to this life than simply the mere material physics of our world.

My brush with death – was it a near-death experience? I don’t know, I believe that God preserved me for a purpose. This was a supernatural intervention on my behalf. Maybe he decided that it was not my time, but what I do know is the next time I start to think there is no God? I believe I have reason to doubt that thought and so do you.

There is an unseen hand that delivered me.

#neardeathexperience / #faith / #life / #supernatural / #evidencethatdemandsaverdict / #Iam /NDE