Josh’s Bike Accident

Broken tooth

One Tuesday afternoon in March of 1996 my son Josh had a terrible bike accident. I was at work in the office at First Christian Church of Tempe when I received a phone call from a Tempe policeman. "Josh fell off of his bike," the officer said, "and your wife would like you to come and pick up the kids."

The officer had understated the accident, of course. When I arrived at Kiwanis Park, Albert and Marie and their bikes were waiting for me near a portion of the sidewalk that curves to the left while descending steeply under the road bridge. Josh had lost control of his bike near the bottom of the descent, had hit gravel that was strewn across the sidewalk, and had crashed into a pillar supporting the roadway. The pillar was covered with seashells and pebbles, and Josh had planted his lower face onto it with great force.

I found out later that Louise had searched for the tooth that had gotten knocked out and had tried to get the bleeding from his mouth under control, without success. An ambulance had come and transported Josh and Louise to the hospital, leaving the two other children and the bikes there at the bridge.

I took the children home and headed off for the hospital. Josh, eight years old at the time, was in the emergency room, still bleeding from the mouth and periodically was vomiting blood. Blood from the wounds in his mouth was seeping down his throat, causing the vomiting, further irritating the wounds in his mouth in a kind of vicious cycle. I was impressed with how very brave little Josh was through this ordeal in the emergency room.

The doctors determined that surgery was indicated, including cosmetic surgery. Mostly though, they were concerned to stop the bleeding. At about 3:00 a.m. Josh went into surgery. He came out and was admitted to the hospital around 5:00, as I recall.

All of this time I had wanted to contact the church’s emergency prayer chain. However, both of the chairmen were out of town and I didn’t know whom to contact to get the chain started. So we didn’t have any prayer for Josh, other than the prayers our own family offered.

The following day, Wednesday, Josh began his recovery. The bleeding in his mouth did not stop, however, and he continued to vomit swallowed blood about every 30 to 60 minutes. The hospital tried some medication, administered through an IV, to get the bleeding and vomiting under control. By the time the afternoon came around and there was no change, I became concerned, although I didn’t know what to do.

Wednesdays were choir rehearsal days at First Christian Church, and I decided to go to rehearsal that evening at 7:00 p.m. as usual. However, I cut the rehearsal short, wanting to get back to the hospital. About 7:45 we started the prayer time that we usually began about a half-hour later. I stated my request to the group, and they were immediately concerned and sympathetic. Several of the choir members prayed fervently for Josh, specifically asking that God would stop the bleeding.  By 8:05 our rehearsal had concluded and I was heading back to the hospital.

When I got to Josh’s room, Louise was there and awake and Josh was sleeping peacefully. I asked Louise if the vomiting had stopped and she said yes, it had. "About what time did the bleeding stop?" I asked. "About 8 o’clock," she said. This was the very time that the choir was praying for Josh. Quite a coincidence!  I consider it a direct answer to prayer.  

Selected from the Wolfe Family Coincidence log