THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM

In an effort to recover from an extremely hectic week, I decided to go into work late on Friday, March 12, 2004. After a vigorous workout at Bally's, I stepped into the last shower stall on the right at 11:30 a.m. God often speaks to me there, probably because it's the only place He finds me quiet and alone. While showering, the thought, "The storm before the calm" popped into my head. I muttered to myself, "Isn't the saying the calm before the storm?” I actually looked to the ceiling and spoke silently to God. "Is that you? What's that supposed to mean? Are You writing a chapter in my book?” I would soon experience the answer to my questions. I put it out of my mind and headed to work.

Ashley, my 20-year-old daughter, was scheduled to leave Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia to head home to Cincinnati, Ohio for Spring break. I anticipated her arrival around midnight. Rachel, a fellow student and friend from our home church, Landmark Cincinnati, was catching a ride with her. Unbeknownst to me, Ashley decided to skip a class and come home earlier in the day to surprise me at my office. 

I was certainly surprised when I received a call from a Lewis County, Kentucky policeman around 4:30. He asked if I had a daughter named Ashley. When I replied “Yes”, he proceeded to tell me that she had been involved in an accident on the AA Highway at mile marker #3. Then he paused to yell at someone or into something, "Is the highway open yet? Is the highway open yet!?!” I was instantly sick with panic. It had to be bad. All he could tell me was that one girl had been airlifted and he didn't know anything about the other one. If the accident was bad enough to close the highway and only one passenger was airlifted, I assumed that the other was dead.

I rushed to my car and headed towards the accident scene. A mere mile into my 3-hour journey, I found myself caught up in a snarled traffic jam. I pulled to the side of the highway to search my computer for an alternate route. Facing the loss of my baby girl alone, I was frantically sobbing and terrified to the depth of my soul. Yet in those few moments by the side of the road, I managed to give it all to God. I was reminded of the complete peace God gave me the year before when the doctor told me that my father was gone. I was comforted to know that Dad’s death was not a cosmic blip or heavenly mix-up, but his divinely-planned appointment with his beloved Jesus. I trusted God completely. I praised Him. I didn't try to make a deal. I simply told Him that no matter what the outcome, I would love and trust Him. Even though I knew my daughter might be gone, I found incredible peace and comfort, knowing that His will for my life and Ashley's life was PERFECT. He wasn't looking the other way or out to lunch. I resumed my trip, gripping the steering wheel and chanting, "I trust you, God" over and over and over again.

The moment I left my office, coworkers had started calling hospitals and police stations to locate my daughter and discover her condition. They called me an hour into my journey, moments before I lost cell service, informing me that Ashley was not the one air-lifted. She was very much alive! What a guilty relief that was, for I loved Rachel and her family. I arrived at the Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth, Ohio, across the Ohio River from Lewis County, Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. My son Cory, who lived in Columbus, Ohio, arrived ahead of me and was by his sister's side in the emergency room. Ashley was sitting up in bed sharing her testimony with anyone who would listen.

The police said the accident was caused by wind shear. The wind pushed her Jeep toward the center line where a semi was hugging the same line. She veered away from the truck at the very moment she passed a hill that stopped the wind gust, which drove her to the edge of the road. Overcompensating, she jerked the wheel back, which sent her into a roll at 65 miles-per-hour. The car rolled 6-8 times on the highway where her passenger was thrown from the car. Then the Jeep mounted the guardrail where it slid 45-feet before flipping end-over-end down a 280-foot embankment with a 75-foot vertical drop. Ashley was conscious through most of it. The hood snapped back and crushed the windshield, the passenger side of the vehicle was destroyed, the back wheels ripped off, the back seat was ejected, the roof was gone, and the roll bar was bent. That blessed roll bar, though damaged, still provided some protection.

On the highway above, traffic stopped suddenly because Rachel was lying in the middle of the road amidst the wreckage debris. Travelers were mystified as to how she got there, because there were no vehicles in sight. Due to limited cell phone reception, one motorist had to drive to find help. Ten minutes later, someone heard Ashley yelling Rachel's name from the bottom of the ravine. Ashley would later recount that her memory of that moment was “walking through a field of colorful flowers, moving aside beautiful blossoms with her hands as she searched and called Rachel’s name”. On that cold, March day, all that could be seen in the ravine were brown weeds and leafless trees.

The concerned people who scrambled down the hill must have thought the trapped girl, covered in blood, bleeding profusely from her head and nose, was near death. The trauma to her head was so severe that she feared it would crack open if she didn't hold it together. Ashley thought she might be dying, but God gave her incredible peace and focus through it all. Praise and scriptures she didn't even know poured from her. The words below, from Matt Redmond's, "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord", played in her head:

On the road marked with suffering,

When the darkness closes in,

Lord, still I will say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord".

You give and take away. You give and take away.

My heart will choose to say, "Blessed be Your Glorious name."

Ashley, looking into the faces of the people around her, could see that they thought she might not make it. Yet she knew that if they didn't know Jesus, they were the ones who were actually dying. Her death would be only the beginning of her eternal life with Christ. Ashley asked everyone if they knew Jesus. If they did, she asked them to pray for her. If they didn’t, she told them about Him. After the emergency vehicles arrived, it took 45 minutes to cut her out of the car. She continued to share Jesus with the EMT's and the doctors and nurses at the hospital. One cynical doctor asked her why God would let this happen to a Christian. She shared the glory of her faith with him. Ashley was bruised, sore and had a gash in the back of her head that required ten staples. While suffering the stapling, she prayed through the pain, "This is only my body…this is only my body. They cannot touch my spirit."


At midnight, a mere 8 hours after the accident, I gratefully and miraculously left the hospital for home with my lovely daughter by my side. On Sunday morning, 36 hours after she tumbled down that hillside, Ashley gave her tearful and moving testimony to a thousand people at Landmark Cincinnati. That same day, I went through the huge trash bag retrieved from her Jeep. I found a card Ashley wrote to thank me for being her mom. I was grateful to be reading it with my arms around her. I also found mud-spattered pieces of her car, three Bibles, brake pads, two crosses, a twisted license plate that said ASHLEE3, Christian CD's, crushed personal items, and shredded, blood-spattered clothing. What a testimony those volunteers must have experienced as they scoured that Kentucky hillside. The police told me that this single-car accident caused four thousand cars to be backed up on the AA Highway. One of the people caught in that traffic jam was a college friend of Ashley's who unknowingly sat there praying for the "people" in the accident up ahead.


You must be wondering what happened to Rachel, who was thrown onto the highway when her seatbelt broke. She was airlifted to Huntington, West Virginia. She suffered road abrasion, brain bruising, temporary short-term memory loss, a broken thumb and two broken toes. She was home in two days. Rachel had surgery on her thumb to insert a pin and healed beautifully, or should I say miraculously! She finished the spring semester online, and returned to Liberty in the fall.

Ashley returned to Liberty University one week after the accident. In the years that followed, she graduated college and served the Lord in China, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. In 2011 she married Brent and they have three beautiful children, with number four due July 10, 2020. With every step she takes, she walks on hallowed ground. Ashley and I experienced the storm before the calm that day. Ashley faced her own death and I faced losing my beloved daughter. Thankfully, we also experienced the extreme peace only God can provide. What do we have to fear, for God is with us.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I hold you up with my victorious right hand.     ~ Isaiah 41:10