GEOFF WIKLUND
“Last month my wife and I arrived in America after 20 days at sea. We were off the ship early and caught a bus to the Los Angeles Airport to pick up our rental car.
“Being early, they upgraded us to a big Kia Telluride (V6 SUV). Our aim was to drive north all the way up the Californian state, and into Oregon where we hoped to meet long lost relatives.
“The next day being Sunday, we headed for a church which had left some tracts in a Denny’s restaurant we went to. The people were very friendly, even if one of the elders made sure to inform us, they were one of the last churches to sing hymns, and no drums! Every man wore a tie, and the ladies were in dresses or skirts. They were very evangelical, the hymns were great, and the man preached the gospel –so a good service, even if we were somewhat ‘under-dressed’!
“From here we continued North up the coast, stopping off to watch the elephant seals. There were literally hundreds of them, stretching right along the beach. We passed through a town called Sand City in an area called Seaside! Amazingly, the motorway actually drove through sand dunes on either side. Houses and businesses were built on sandy sections. Presumably they knew all about foundations.
“However, as our journey progressed my wife began to feel heart pains on a regular basis particularly at night, and they seemed to be getting worse. She didn’t even feel like shopping and that’s saying something!
“After travelling for about a week, we came to the same conclusion one particular night, that there was no way we could continue on over two more weeks of travel. We needed get back home and under our medical system in New Zealand. We phoned our Oregon relatives who were very disappointed but understood.
“Leaving early, we went straight down the main highway –not the best scenery, but we could travel at speed towards LAX airport. After six and a half hours of travelling we decided to take the exit to Button Willow. We took the turn-off, doing 70mph, (110kms). Ahead of us, a massive truck began to slow and we expected the rental vehicle to do the same.
“It didn’t.
“For a few terrifying seconds we couldn’t understand why. The cruise control had locked on.
“I hit the brakes only to find they didn’t work at all! I wrenched the wheel so as not to hit the truck; my wife realising something was very wrong, prayed “Jesus, help us. Jesus, help us.” With my foot hard on the brake, I rammed the gear stick into park, but still with no result. The only place to go was across the intersection. The light had just turned green, and traffic was beginning to move bringing vehicles across our escape route!
“A minivan carrying workers to the oilfields was in our path and we hit their front engine at full speed. It was fortunate that they weren’t a second earlier, otherwise we would have hit the passenger door. As it was, our impact spun them around almost full circle; our airbags were deployed, and next thing we ploughed into the dirt.
“Thankfully our seatbelts and doors still worked so we could get ourselves out as the airbags broke open and expelled smoke etc.
“We suffered severe bruising, abrasions and cracked ribs, but that’s all. Although it turned out that 10 people were involved in the crash (2 cars and the minibus), no one was hurt. I felt that God had most definitely protected us and the others as well.
“We tentatively asked the Patrol Officer if we could carry on and leave the country, knowing that California is probably the worst state for people suing people for everything. Being a rental car, they were happy for us to do so.
“We stayed at little Button Willow the night, then next day with 3 different transportations managed to arrive at LAX. A long day for two weary, fragile people.
“We had contacted our travel agent to change our flights. She said there were no flight vacancies for the next week! It was also going to cost us NZ$2,000 just to cancel our special tickets on top of purchasing new ones.
“I felt God telling us to arrive at Air New Zealand early the following day, so we were first in line as soon as it opened. The manager happened to walk over to our counter and, as we described our ordeal, showing some bruises and the photo to prove we weren’t scamming, we asked if there was anything she could do (holding our breath as one of their planes had been struck by lightning, and a whole lot of passengers were trying to change on to this plane).
“Absolutely amazingly she not only got us on the last two business class seats, but we were also charged no extra.
“We were later told by medical staff that it was fortunate we had been able to put our legs up because extensive bruising may have led to clotting.
“On arrival in New Zealand our daughter took us both to the hospital, but when they saw my wife’s bruising the staff said I needed to be checked out as well. So, a day in hospital for me and a week for her as they discovered that she had had a heart attack (before the car crash).
“She ended up having a stent put in. One of the nights she spent in the corridor due to the Cardio unit being overstocked, but she was so grateful to be getting medical help in New Zealand, she was happy to put up with anything.
“We met Maisy the hospital cat. Very friendly and has the run of the hospital.
“Whilst visiting my wife, I noticed a nurse could hardly walk. She said she had fallen and injured her back. She allowed me to pray for her and immediately she was made whole.
“My wife was released on Thursday in the second week of May. I went to the rugby – Blues vs Hurricanes - on Saturday night. I got home and suddenly it was like a door shutting and I was incredibly tired. I’m not as bullet-proof as I thought. I would have loved to have crawled into bed but again my wife had heart pains and so I needed to take her back to the hospital. They kept her overnight and her heart was okay, but her fractured ribs were very sore.
“We had so many people contact us; it was very humbling. We had to say no to visitors as we just needed rest. It was hard when some of them were family.
“We had family house church that Sunday at our home over the computer with a devotion from 1 Kings 17. This was a very familiar passage for me. It’s about Elijah and the widow woman, and the promise of oil and flour.
“Years ago, God had spoken to me from this passage to live according to the promises He made to me, and not according to what I saw in the bank balance. However, this day, as we read, I saw something new.
“The prophet said the miraculous supply would continue until the rain came. Realising that there is of course a gap between the rain coming, and a crop growing, I began to meditate on this gap. I sensed the message in it for this very time was that we were both to sow, and to save. The widow sowed her miraculous supply by sharing with her whole household, but she also had to save oil and flour for the time of the gap. So, we have revisited our budget and are saving for any gap that may happen, while continuing to be led to sow.
“As our condition has improved, we have hosted our families and visited others. How good to know that whether in life or in death (or close to!), God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son”.
1 John 5 11-12 “Ane this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son. Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”