THE STORY I AM ABOUT TO TELL APPEARED IN PART IN THE

PENTECOSTAL EVANGEL, JULY 9, 2006.  IT IS A TRUE STORY.

  

It’s “MY TRIP OF A LIFETIME”

It happened September 17, 1982 in lake Hudson, one of the “pothole” lakes in Alaska. It’s a small lake about a two-mile radius in any direction.

 

Tom Paterson was the adult Bible teacher at First Assembly of God church in Los Gatos, CA where I was the pastor.  Tom was in the ministry of raising money for Christian schools, and was working with the school in Anchorage, Alaska.

 

He invited me to go along, my way was paid! (Pay my way, and I’m ready to go anywhere!!).

 

My wife said it would be a “trip of a life time” and I ought to go.  As it was, it was a trip of a life time!!

 

Tom, Dr. Joseph Schultz, a member of Tom’s Board and I were going to enjoy some good fishing! 

 

Flying from San Francisco, to Anchorage, we met our host, Glen Alsworth, who served on the school board there, and who was the owner of a sports flying service throughout Alaska.

 

Alaska is a most beautiful State….my first time there. We boarded our host’s Cessna 185 and flew from Anchorage to Glen’s home and lodge on Lake Clark out on the Aleutian Peninsula.  In flight, as we swooped down low between the glaciers, where we saw eagles in flight, moose foraging. Beautiful!

 

The next morning we loaded a 6 passenger, Cessna 209 floatplane and took off for our planned rendezvous with the fish. 

 

Flying about 45 minutes we came to Lake Hudson. The plan was to drop us off to fish and pick us up at the end of the day.  We were to carry our gear and a deflated rubber raft to a nearby river and fish floating down the river to a large lake, named, Six Mile Lake.

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Let me tell you who were on board and where each was sitting: The pilot, Larry is sitting on the front left seat. Dr. Schultz (a world famous optemologist), sat in the front right seat. Tom sat behind the pilot, to my left; and Sig, a teenage nephew of our host, (who had just given his heart to the Lord Jesus), sat behind me in the 5th seat. The sixth seat was out, in order to store our gear.

 

Again, after flying about 45 minutes, we circled the lake, noticing the white caps on the water, when we landed….the wind had picked up, so the pilot had to ‘jockey’ the plane into the wind, and let the wind blow us back to get us over to the inlet where we were to disembark…..This took longer than planned, so the pilot canceled his flight plan, planning to re-schedule it later in flight.

 

When we finally reached the inlet, we unloaded our gear….it had begun to sprinkle lightly. Suddenly, another guide, Bob Robinson appeared….seemingly out of nowhere.  He had his camp 15 minutes away, but had no clients due to the storm forecast….he told us fishing was not good. (Probably due to the change in weather!)

 

So, we loaded our gear back in the plane. However, we had already put our wadders and hip-boots on….so we left them on.

 

Back in the plane, the pilot hit the throttle and the plane roared back across the water and into the air….and all of a sudden the airplane took a sharp left bank. I looked across Tom’s lap and straight down the left wing…watching it dip into the water….I thought the pilot would put the power on and pull us out, but in a mill-a-second it was all over…

 

WE WERE IN THE WATER….THE BODY OF THE PLANE WAS FULLY SUBMERGED….WITH THE WINGS HOLDING US UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The plane had cart-wheeled…going in backwards, bending the tail section into a ‘U’ shape, opening cockpit like a scoop. We were INSTANTLY UNDER WATER!!!  The air in one’s lungs was all one had!

 

My thoughts?  The survival instinct kicked in!!  Some how I was getting out of this plane!! Even it I had to kick the side out!

 

But in that moment, the side cargo doors behind me opened! (I assume young Sig opened them.)

 

I was the first one out. After me, came Tom. He reached in and pulled Sig out. He told us he couldn’t swim! About that time a pontoon came up and we put him on it.

 

I had tried to take my wadders off by pulling them down, but could not get them off. (I was fully dressed, Levies and Pendleton shirt, socks).

I told Tom, I won’t make it if I can’t get these off. I asked him to help get them off, but he couldn’t. So, I took a deep breath of air and submerged ….wrestling, GOD helped me get the left foot out and come to the surface bursting for air!

 

When I came up, the young teenager was gone…his jacket was floating in the water. That was the hardest moment of the ordeal. I believed I could have saved him.  I’m a good swimmer. All my life I have played in the water….swam for miles in Long Beach harbor…surfed at Redondo and Hermosa Beaches, took Life-Saving courses, but I know there have been better swimmers than I who have drowned. So, God knows best!!

 

The summer, before this trip in September, was very hot in San Jose. So, every afternoon after work, I would swim in our pool (16’X32’) for an hour until my wife would get home from work.  After doing that for a week or so, the thought occurred to me, ‘why not swim non-stop the length of the pool (32 ft.) for that hour!   Which I did.   Then another thought: why not ‘swim the hour using only your arms…no legs for the hour.

I know now that those thoughts came from the good Lord!!

 

Little did I know that at age 51, I would need to be in the best condition possible for my ‘trip of a life time’!!!!!! BUT God, my Heavenly Father knew and prepared me ahead of time!!! Consequently, He knows today what you and I are going to face tomorrow, next week, next year, etc. and is preparing us for all of our tomorrows!

In the Bible, the book of Daniel 5:23, the last part of the verse says, (He is)…the God  who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your pathways..”  NKJV

 

The plane has slipped away, and Tom and I are the only ones afloat. I try to swim to Tom ten feet away, which would lead us the shortest way to the shore, but I could not reach him as the wind was blowing from that direction….forcing us to swim with the wind, but swimming the longest distance to the shore close to a mile.

 

I told I was in 37- 38-degree water for about an hour. (Again, I’m told, that’s as cold as Lake Tahoe in the Winter!) According to medics, hypothermia should have taken over and I should not have lasted for more 15 minutes. As it was, I was in the water between 45 minutes to an hour!

 

Every stroke was a prayer for the Lord to save me and have some pray for me. I’m using the breaststroke, kicking with one leg and dragging my wadders full of water!

 

Finally coming to shore, dragging my wadders full of water, I manage to claw my way onto the rocky beach. Now, I’m shaking so badly that I can hear my bones hitting eachother.

 

The Lord knew I needed the wadders, for two reasons: 1) for ‘warmth’ and protection from the wind and wind-chill; and for walking, as I had had an operation on my feet three weeks earlier.

 

So, trying to put my foot back in the wadders was a real chore as I was so cold and shaking so violently! Getting them, on I proceeded to climb an embankment of about 12 feet, and head back to the inlet and the other guide.

 

On the way, I fell several times uncontrollable….I could have laid there and slept forever, but I shook so violently that I had to get up and go on!

 

The tundra growth was sparse and low growth, so I was pretty well in the open.

 

About halfway back towards the inlet,  a floatplane flew over….I waved frantically, but they did not see me! Disparagingly,  I watched the plane fly away ‘till out of sight!!!!!

 

Continuing on for another ten to fifteen minutes, a helicopter flew, hovering over the lake, probably over the crash site, as the water was crystal clear where one could see the plane.

 

Again, I waved frantically, but seemingly they didn’t see me. They banked away from me and flew back towards the inlet. Then, I watched as it circled back towards me, flew right over my head and sat down about a hundred yards away….at that point, my strength gone, I dropped to my knees! Two men jumped out and came, helping me to the craft where they wrapped me in a blanket and strapped me in.

 

The pilot called back, said, “Someone upstairs must be looking out for you!

 

Later, I learned the first helicopter contacted could not make it for bad weather, and this chopper just made it in because of a break in the weather. Due to weather, this pilot and co-pilot were not working, they were out hunting…hunting was not good, (thank the good Lord!) so ‘they’ decided to go to the airport for a cup of coffee…(I think God decided for them!!!)

 

I was flown to the airport at Illiam’na where I was well taken care of by the lady paramedics, a doctor vacationing from the East, (who was fishing at the end of the runway), and my second host and hostess.

 

The next commercial flight to Anchorage was canceled due to weather, however, a military C-130 came in on a turn-around flight from Anchorage, and asked if I wanted to fly with them…I did.

 

I had no money with me as my wallet was at my first host’s lodge. Not to worry!  My new host said, as he gave me 5 one hundred dollar bills, “If you are cleared by the paramedics in Anchorage, go on home…..”

 

On board the C-130, they placed me in a cock-pit area, with all the lights and bells and whistles…taking off, it began to snow, so I asked the pilot “If this was going to be a safe flight?” He laughs, and said, “Rev. with you on board, this will be the safest flight we’ll ever make!”

 

I flew to Anchorage and on to San Jose Saturday morning and called home.  I had flown to Alaska…watched four men die, and flew home.

 

I don’t have answers as to WHY???  I went to Alaska, watched four men die, and fly home, I just know God in His providence was present to take them home to Heaven, and spare me for another day, except I have experienced what I have always believed,

 

The Providence of God!   I leave you with these Scripture from the Bible:

Prov 20:24 (TLB)

Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that happens along the way?

Dan 5:23 (NKJV), speaks of the… 

…the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your pathways

Job 14:5 (NIV)

Man's days are determined; (God)You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

Heb 9:27 (KJV) And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

2 Cor 6:2 (NIV)

I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.

 

These and many other Scriptures teach the providence of God in caring for His children. 

 

THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS, in the natural, I should not have survived, BUT FOR THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD:

 

1. THE CARGO DOORS: I did not know how to open them. I assume Sig  opened them in that he was sitting behind me.

2. THE WADERS: were needed to protect me from the cold and my feet from the rocks. (later, I discovered I had a knife in my pocked)

3. THE GUIDE: what if he had not been there to witness the crash? He later told me, if he had not been there to go for help, I would have ended up as “bear meat for dinner!”

4. THE HELICOPTER CREW: One chopper had already declined due to  weather.

5. THE COLD WATER AND HYPERTHERMIA: I should have slipped into subconsciousness and drowned.

6. THE DISTANCE I HAD TO SWIM, AND THE TIME IT TOOK ME!

 

People will exclaim to me, "The Lord certainly was good to you!"

 

I understand their intent, but it is a negative inference, that the Lord was not good to the four who perished.  Not true!  If anything, He was better to them.  They were HOME in HEAVEN before I made shore!

 

And that is far better!!

 

REASONS WHY I AM HERE:

 

1. GOD!  Who holds my breath in his hands, and owns all my pathways!!!! (Daniel 5:23b)

2. THE FLAPS OF THE AIRPLANE:  Going into the lake backwards bent the flap back under the wing, allowing the cargo doors to be opened
   (Otherwise, flaps down in normal position for take-off would not have allowed the doors to be opened!!!)

3. LAST, but not least I have been a good long distance swimmer all my life!!!

 

The Bible says, "It is APPOINTED unto man once to die..." and that appointment is set and cannot be avoided, postponed, changed or canceled!  And it can happen any time, any place! 

 

Whether I am walking from my bedroom to the kitchen, or flying in an airplane and by the same virtue, if it is not my appointed time and I am flying or driving or walking in my house, God will see to my safety!!

 

SO, MY FRIEND, THE INVITATION FROM GOD IS STILL AVAILABLE!!   WHILE YOU STILL HAVE BREATH, ACCEPT GOD’S DEAR SON, JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR, NOW.  AND HE WILL CLEANSE AND FORGIVE YOU OF YOUR SINS, WRITE YOUR NAME IN HIS BOOK OF LIFE, AND YOU WILL INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE NOW AND FOREVER!!!!

 

A SIMPLE PRAYER COULD GO LIKE THIS: LORD JESUS, I KNOW I HAVE SINNED…I AM SORRY!  PLEASE FORGIVE ME,AND COME INTO MY LIFE AND HELP ME LIVE EVERY DAY FOR YOU!  AMEN!

 

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THE GUIDE (Bob Robinson)

July 10, 2006, the day after the article appeared in the Pentecostal Evangel, I received a call from the editor stating he had received a call from a lady whose husband claimed to be the guide that greeted us that day, and would like to talk to me.  As we were on vacation in Lewiston, Idaho, and he lived in Kalispell, Montana, we met in Missoula on Sunday, July 16. Sure enough he was the guide, Bob Robinson, the man who saved my life!  (I now have his seventeen page story describing the accident.)