My son Dale is now 24 and perfectly healthy. But he was an accident-prone child and this is the story of an "accident" that happened to him when he was two or three years old. It was spring or summer and that day my husband and I and our two sons went to a picnic in the park along with many other families connected with my husband's softball team.

One of the other ladies had just had a baby girl, who was not even two weeks old, and while all the kids were playing I was talking to her. I asked if I could hold her baby. I was totally focused on this conversation and had not a worry in mind. As she stretched out her arms to hand me her baby, a loud voice yelled in my head - "WHERE ARE YOUR KIDS?" It was a male voice and sounded extremely desperate and upset. I immediately stopped reaching for the baby and said, "Wait a minute. I have to find my kids."

I started visually panning the park looking for my boys. At about the 1:00 o'clock position I saw my older son, Adam, who was four or five years old, sitting on the grass playing with some other children. He appeared to be fine.

I continued looking for my other son, Dale. As I turned all the way around, I saw, very far away where the slides were, a child lying on the ground at the bottom of the steps of the 10-foot slide! This child, my son Dale, lifted up his head and opened his mouth, then dropped his head to the ground. He had fallen off this huge 10-foot slide to the hard cement below.

I immediately started running as fast as I could towards him. When I picked him up, his beautiful blue eyes had no pupils and he started vomiting. At the hospital, it became clear that Dale had fallen on his head and had a severe concussion.

He made a full recovery and later told us that another child had been on the steps of the slide above him, and that dirt had fallen into Dale's eyes. He let go of the slide to wipe his eyes and fell to the bottom, hitting his head on the cement. I can imagine that if that voice had not alerted me, Dale could easily have choked on his own vomit.

I am totally convinced this was divine intervention and I am so thankful for it. Some people might say that it was just my motherly instinct kicking in. I respond, "If this was me talking to myself, why didn't the voice say, 'Where are my kids?'" No, this male voice said, "Where are your kids??!!" Also, since I work in the mental health field, I do not hear voices in my head regularly and I do know the difference.

There is more out there than what meets the eye! There is a spiritual life, and I look forward one day to meeting this "male" and thanking him properly for saving my son's life.

Sherrie Thomas-Woodside
Please respond to john@beyondreligion.com

Posted March 25, 2008