I Should Be Dead
By Bobby Tom, Dakelh First Nation, BC, Canada
Before I became a Christian, I was wild and didn’t respect myself or anyone else. I was a pretty ignorant person. I had begun drinking and smoking heavily at a young age. I became dependent on alcohol to cover my true feelings, which made me feel powerless.
In my early 20’s I moved to Takla Lake, BC for work at the Silver Can logging camp. During this time, I met a beautiful Chilcotin woman. We spent a lot of time together and we both drank heavily. For the next ten years we moved around from reservation to reservation in BC. I drank so much I couldn’t hold on to a job. My drinking got so bad that even my girlfriend couldn’t handle it and she left me.
A few months later my parents asked me to return home with them. I decided to do it. My brother-in-law had a contract for a slash-burning job on Babine Lake, and he hired me right away. He ministered to me and took me to prayer meetings with my sister. To keep them happy I went along, and I even liked some of the songs they sang.
Every weekend we went to Burns Lake, BC and I would go back to my drinking. One day my brother-in-law said, “No matter how strong you are, you’ll stumble and fall and never get up.” He told me to call out to the Lord for help, to release me from alcohol and cigarettes, and to become a Christian. I looked at him, laughed and said, “I’m too young to be a Christian, and I want to have a little more good times.” I drank all the money I made, and had nothing to show for it.
One weekend some friends and I had been drinking all night and were still going the next day. We were all in a pickup truck driven by my brother, who was also drinking. I was standing on the back of the truck when my brother suddenly turned left at a crossroad. I tried to grab the box of the truck to keep from being thrown off, but I fell off the side landing so that the rear tire crushed my head. A lady working nearby called an ambulance. The accident scene was only four houses away from my sister’s house. My sister, who was a Christian, ran over, put her hand on my forehead and cried out to the Lord, “Don’t let my brother die as a drunk!”
I quit breathing, so four people started performing CPR on me, then put me on my side and started to pat me on the back. Suddenly a gush of blood came out and I started breathing again. On the way to the hospital in Burns Lake my breathing stopped again, and ambulance attendants kept doing CPR on me.
The doctor pronounced me “dead on arrival” at 11:30 a.m. September 28, 1985. A sister in the Lord encouraged my family members to pray to God for a miracle. Five Spirit-filled Christians laid their hands on my death bed and started praying. The nurses were muttering at the back of the room, “Why are they praying for him? He’s already dead.” I was put on life support to give my family some extra time with me, but the doctor told them there was no hope for me.
In Burns Lake there was a prayer meeting that evening and the church was packed. They all cried out and prayed in one mind and one accord. A prayer like this has power when no one doubts it. Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call unto me and I will answer you.” My mom cried out in Carrier language and He answered her, because He created us and He knows every language in the world.
My Christian sister cried out to the Lord, “Lord, remove this mountain of death – move this mountain from here to there!” Anything can be your mountain when you walk this narrow road in Christian walk.
At approximately 10:30 that evening my body warmed up. The Holy Spirit had intervened! My legs started kicking like I was running.
The nurses jumped into the corner of the room with their eyes and mouths wide open. My Sister in the Lord yelled at them to call the doctor. The nurses ran from the room, bumping into each other in their hurry. The doctor came back and was amazed to see what happened.
When Jesus walked this earth, He performed many miracles. God performed His miracle on me the day I was resurrected by the power of the Lord. Jesus is not lying in a tomb, or hanging on the cross, He is sitting at the right hand of our Heavenly Father praying that all of us make the right choice. “He is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Whatever or whomever you are praying for, don’t give up – it might be answered.