Have you ever had a moment where you would have been seriously injured or even killed if you had done something just a few seconds/minutes earlier or a few seconds/minutes later?

Not by time-measurements, but I did roll a car once. The roof above the passenger seat was crushed down a good 8-10 inches. The roof on my side? Not even scratched. Certainly feel like angels were watching over me that day.

Maroon Caprice, will never forget that moment.

Long story short, when I was maybe 11 years old I was helping my dad to cut up a tree that had fallen. His chainsaw was out of gas, so he was doing a little work with an axe. He had me pulling back on a tree limb that was maybe 3" around so it wouldn't be in the way while he was chopping on the tree trunk. Anyway, I had both hands on the limb and was tugging backwards on it, leaning back to try to use my weigh to keep the limb flexed away from where dad was chopping.

 

After a short while while, I went to shift my weight a little, but the limb I was pulling on pulled me back off balance, and I fell forward, putting my hands out in front of me to try to catch myself from falling.

 

I ended up going down face-first, and catching myself on the tree trunk that dad was chopping with his axe right as he sunk the bit into the tree trunk...right between the index finger and middle finger on my right hand.

 

I got super light-headed, but the axe had only just barely skinned the side of my index finger. Nothing else happened. Could have lost my entire hand...and I only ended up with a skinned finger. Didn't even bleed.

Too many to count. Mostly in a vehicle. The Lord's hand was definitely on me. I pray the same protection over my wife and kids daily.

I drunkenly wrapped my car around a tree back when I was in my early twenties. Officers on the scene couldn't understand how I was alive, much less uninjured. Car was completely gone from the windshield forward. Even more remarkably, the officer didn't take me to jail, although I definitely deserved it. Very fortunate, and absolutely learned my lesson that night.

 

I was also incredibly fortunate to have been born in this area. With the serious health issues I was born with, in another area that didn't have the caliber of children's hospital as Cincinnati Children's I probably wouldn't have survived. Was one of the first handful of people in the entire country to have the surgery I did.

 

God has definitely been looking out for me.

Too many to count. Mostly in a vehicle. The Lord's hand was definitely on me. I pray the same protection over my wife and kids daily.

 

I'm going to second and triple this mindset. I was blessed to be raised by a very good defensive driver and I've been blessed by heavenly guidance, preventing doom and destruction, more times than not... :thumb:

You live as long as I have, the answer is "several times".

Conception.

Missed driving through the Tornado that ripped through Blue Ash by a couple minutes.

 

Got caught in a rip current at Rehoboth Beach when I was 19, spent what seemed like an eternity underwater completely under the control of the ocean, and then just got spit out of it and into calm water. I love the beach but rarely go into the ocean now, and never when it's rough.

 

Once while pitching, had a line drive hit back at me that hit the bill of my cap.

When I was a freshman in H.S. I joined the track team to throw 8 lb Shot Put & Discus, and with literally no true guidance, decent enough strength, or any previous experience with it, I was absolutely horrible, and no doubt the worst on the team. In competition my throws didn't even qualify to count.

 

Day after day in practice my shot put throws were awful. One by one each team member would take their turn being mindful to not throw until the last teammate had retrieved their last toss.

 

One day a teammate demonstrated to me how he used momentum in his spin that helped him achieve greater distance in his throws. With this instruction, I had a definite breakthrough where immediately my tosses were landing a few feet further.

 

After throwing a much better toss I excitedly went to retrieve my shot put when I loudly hear my name, and then feel the weight of an 8 lb shot smashing directly into the outside of my leg right near the knee.

 

Needless to say it was quite painful, and I fell to the ground with a guttural scream fearing the worst that perhaps my leg had been broken.

 

When I tried to stand I could not. I was helped to the locker room where the trainer wrapped my leg and instructed me to make an appointment to visit my doctor.

 

My doctor assessed that nothing was broken, and that I just had a badly bruised muscle, and thankfully within a few days I was walking normal again with no lingering issues.

 

When I reflected on what had happened, though I can't say for sure, if I hadn't thrown the shot put a few feet further on this given day, and threw it much poorly like I had previously, then instead of getting hit in the leg, I could very well have been hit square in the head, which in that case might've have cracked my skull and killed me.

Missed driving through the Tornado that ripped through Blue Ash by a couple minutes.

 

Got caught in a rip current at Rehoboth Beach when I was 19, spent what seemed like an eternity underwater completely under the control of the ocean, and then just got spit out of it and into calm water. I love the beach but rarely go into the ocean now, and never when it's rough.

 

Once while pitching, had a line drive hit back at me that hit the bill of my cap.

 

I was driving to my now wifes in eastern KY when the 2012 tornados were happening behind me the whole time. It was freaky.

I missed an explosion at the 580 Building in Cincinnati by 10 minutes. It killed two electricians. I was in the same room and saw them on the way out the door. I wondered why my wife was in tears when I got home (she had been watching the news). This was way before cell phones.

It seems like I'm always questioning things in regards to this, and it's usually incidents with a vehicle.

 

The one that stands out though dealt with my family. We went to the circus one evening, and on the way back, we stopped at the Buttermilk exit to grab a bite. As with kids, it meant multiple stops as I won't eat McD's. We get the kids' food at McD's, and then swing over to Arby's. I get my order, and as I'm coming up to the light at Buttermilk, I noticed my drink is a diet. I can't do diet, and I was extremely thirsty. I pulled into the gas station, ran in, got a drink, and headed on my way. I was in and out in maybe a little over a minute. I'm headed home down Turkeyfoot, and there is a head-on collision in the southbound lanes due to a drunk driver. The accident was fresh as there wasn't any officers or medics at the site, nor could you hear any on their way. There were a couple cars pulled over already helping the people out. The only thought that had gone through my head was what would've happened had Arby's not given me the wrong drink.

Four years ago my Doctor said that at some point we'd need to discuss me getting a defibrillator placed in my chest. Having met my out of pocket max for the year already my wife and I decided that I should go ahead and get it.

April of 2016 I would have in all likelihood died if not for that Zippo Lighter sized implant. I went into V-Tach and my little buddy popped my heart back into rhythm. After reading of the incident from my quarterly defibrillator check, doc said I had went into a fatal arithmia and may not have survived.

 

It was not a last second decision like what was asked for in the opening post but that is a decision that I made that actually saved my life.