Steve Visser

How I Survived An Accident:

Problems 

Have you ever wanted to kill someone?  Have you ever hated someone enough to do something about it?  Well, I have... 

I grew up in a well off family that didn’t believe in God, but believed in money and living for the moment.  I went to the most expensive schools and lacked nothing - by the time I was 18 years old I was on to my 2nd new car, I went skiing whenever I liked, had overseas travel  -- you get the picture.    

But I wasn’t happy.  Between 13 and 26 years of age I had nearly died 6 times - in a tractor accident, twice by drowning,  choking on food,  attempted suicide and by a fatal car accident. 

The reality of heaven or hell only struck me when I had a fatal car accident in 1981. The other car came around a corner and hit us head on - on our side of the road. The impact was so fast neither of us had time to touch the brakes. 

I remember regaining consciousness in the car, with my 19-year-old sister bleeding to death over me. A girl in the other car died also.  I had acute injuries.  My knee was concertinaed into my pocket, my head and neck fractured, teeth smashed, chest injuries  -- you name it, it was broken. I was drowning in my own blood.  

Passing out, I felt as if I was coming out the back of my body, like steam evaporates from a boiling jug. The water just separates into another form. I didn’t feel anything by leaving my body – in fact it was a relief, no pain and it was easy to breath; I could walk around this small room but couldn’t find a way out. Then I saw a bright light above me, looked up and then fell back into my body from the back – more intense pain and terror as they were working on pulling me out of the wreck and the top half of my sister slid down my side.  It was a miracle I survived. 

In the intensive care in hospital, I remember waking up and seeing my parents in distress, crying over me.  Then I felt like I was falling through the mattress; I had to hold on to the rails to stop myself from slipping. My arms were stretching like spaghetti. Somehow I could turn my head and look down.  The view terrified me!!  It was the deepest darkness I’d ever seen. I felt that if I let go I would fall forever into this black hole.  That was when it struck me that there really is a spiritual world. 

Obviously I survived, but by the skin of my teeth.  I  was in hospital for 2 months and in that time 2 strangers told me about the love of Jesus. Even though I said I didn’t believe in God, I still blamed Him for my sister’s death. 

I found out 6 months later that the guy who caused the accident got off on a technicality.  That infuriated me.  Here I was in constant pain and still on crutches,-- and he gets off scot free!! 

The more I thought about it the worse my bitterness grew -- until I walked into a gun shop and found the ultimate revenge  - a U.S. Carbine .308.  Hatred for this guy filled my mind.  I tried to find out where in N.Z. he lived, to deliver my message.  But it was as if he had disappeared.  I rang all the people with his surname in Christchurch to find if they were related, and I tried the Electoral rolls as well, but he had disappeared. 

Solutions 

A few years later I was staying the night at a hotel in another town.  It was there that I discovered a Gideon Bible in the drawer. Not having read a Bible before, I didn’t know how or where to start, but in the front of the Gideon Bible there is a section on where to find help.  I turned to a reference on forgiveness at Mark 11:v25, 26.    It says, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your father in heaven may also forgive you your sins.

 But if you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your sins.”  I felt a heaviness in my chest when I read that. I felt God convicting me of my own double standards. 

When I got back home I found an Easter leaflet amongst the junk mail.  On the front it had a picture of Jesus on the cross with the words ‘Jesus died for you.”  I thought, big deal lots of people have died on a cross, don’t tell me about suffering and torture after what I’ve been through.  Then I opened it up and the sentence finished, “... he died of a broken heart. Because he’d rather die than live without me.”  I went to the church that sent the leaflet because I wanted to know more.  

I still had doubts about whether God was real or not though.  I mean I was taught about evolution and the minister at our school didn’t offer any alternative view apart from “God moves in mysterious ways.” 

It wasn’t until I believed the Bible was God’s Word entirely, that I could truly trust Him.  I have found out that God’s Word is just as true today as it was 2000 years ago; because I have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. 

I have been healed physically and received deliverance from evil spirits. With 9 years of arthritis in my hip and the inability to run, I had tried every source for a cure from green lip mussel pills to amethyst crystals, you name it I tried it.  Nothing worked.  Only God completely healed me through someone who believed healing was just as available today. 

So I believed in healing when my wife was extremely sick with our first child.  Because I had a lifestyle for prayer every morning I was tuned into The Holy Spirits voice. 

Last year God asked me, “Have you really forgiven this man for causing the accident that took your sister’s life?”   I said, “Yes, Lord.”  Then God said, “I want you to write to him and tell him that you forgive him.”  That is when you really find out if you’ve forgiven someone!  That is when you really find out if there is a root of bitterness in your heart!  “But God,” I said, “I don’t know where he lives or if he’s still alive after 16 years?”  Still, I started to write....As soon as I wrote ‘Dear …….,

I forgive you...’  I started to cry.  It took me an hour to compose myself and complete the letter. 

So to find his address I looked through the Electoral rolls again. And surprise, surprise, there he was.  I checked the address was current with Telecom and sent the letter. 

What a relief!!  What a weight off my back!!  A real peace came into my life!! 

Consequences 

I still haven’t heard from him.  But I just want to hug him, tell him Jesus loves him and can forgive him of anything.  As for the .308, it’s empty.  As for the Bible, I am now a member of Gideon’s International and distributing Bibles in secondary schools and hotels.  God is changing my life circumstances for good.  I have found that God can do anything. 

God has been prodding me to express love when I didn’t want to. My father was bitter towards me for allowing his only daughter to die and for becoming a Christian.  God said to tell him I loved him

I thought, ‘I don’t even like him. What about all the nasty things he said about me, about my choice to become a Christian and all the arguments about the bible and creation etc?  I made him a specially carved park bench.  The impasse was broken.

Conclusions 

There is really nothing that can stand against the power of love that is offered through the grace of God.