Testimony of Healing June 26, 2017 Issue

Skydiving emergency and divine aid

Neil Burghard

Growing up in a Christian Science Sunday School, I was especially fond of the account in the Old Testament where Samuel, lying in bed, was called by God (see I Samuel 3:1–10). Thinking it was the priest, Eli, calling, Samuel went to him three times. But Eli finally realized that the call was coming from God, and he told Samuel to respond and listen. I wondered what it was like to hear God so clearly.

Many years later I took up the sport of skydiving. During my second jump I went into a tumble just as my parachute was opening. My legs flew up, and my left leg became entangled in the shroud lines. Five or six lines were very tightly wrapped around my leg as the strain of the partially open chute pulled them taut. The chute itself was about two-thirds deployed, but the rate of descent was approximately seven times faster than normal, and I was dangling head first toward the ground.

With lightning speed I went through a checklist of options. I could release my reserve chute, but that would probably tangle. I could cut away the main chute, but the cords were too tight around my leg. It was absolutely impossible for me to bend my body to reach the lines with my hand. Jump school had never considered this as a possibility. My mental checklist was exhausted, and there was perhaps less than a minute before I would crash.

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