Powerful Prayer Sessions Spark Hope and Healing for Motorcycle Accident Victim

My apologies in advance for some journalistic irregularities in this report. Most news articles in the West Brazos Herald will not be first person pieces as this one is. They will also be more certain of their facts.

I confess to being hasty here. Reporters are generally expected to tirelessly gather their information directly from the people involved in the stories they tell. And, yes, it’s considered bad form to lift one’s facts solely from, say, Facebook or Twitter posts. (Common as such a practice may be these days.)

Alas, I’ve not yet confirmed any facts, directly, from anyone involved in this story. And almost all of what I know of the details of this situation comes to me only from Facebook. I apologize for my sloppiness. I promise to get better fast as we move toward the day when the West Brazos Herald is a full-fledge publication. I pray you will forgive my rust, as I transition back into the role of a full-time reporter, something I have not done for several years.

But, despite my journalistic negligence, I pray, dear reader, you will feel the importance of the picture you see above.

I took it on Sunday at my Father’s House Church in Jones Creek, when the Holy Spirit brought forth a powerful prayer session just as everyone was about to leave.

“This is exactly the reason God is calling us to start the Herald,” I whispered to my wife as I asked to borrow her phone and rushed to document the amazing scene before us. (My phone was in our car, completely void of charge. Again, good reporters typically don’t find themselves in such a predicament. Notebook, camera and recorder always must be handy! Given this new venture I’m called to put together, it’s definitely high time I got back into that healthy habit again!)

The picture is of the second (or maybe third) boisterous prayer session that’s broken out in the days since an acquaintance of mine, Jon Baldridge, a member of our Father’s House family, made the local news on Sept. 19. On that stormy night, Jon was loaded onto a helicopter and flown from Lake Jackson to Houston, clinging to life after a gruesome wreck on his motorcycle. (All of this, while flash floods were ravaging Houston streets, and the people of Brazoria County were scrambling for news about whether their schools and workplaces would be open the next day.)

The Facts has reported the driver of the other vehicle had parked on a dark, quiet street and left her car to attend to a small animal she had seen in the road. Jon (I have done it a second time! Reporters are supposed to use a person’s last name only after the first time he or she is introduced in a story.) then came upon the scene on his motorcycle and did not see the parked car in time to avoid collision. The other driver escaped injury.

If you’re involved with social media, you may have heard about all that. I’ve seen quite a bit of speculation and unsolicited commentary about why Jon, reportedly, was not wearing a helmet, why the other driver would stop her car entirely in the middle of a dark road, and whether either person had been given — or even was deserving of — a citation.

It all made for entertaining reading, I suppose. And those are the kinds of questions that reporters, generally, are expected to answer. But I don’t have anything to add to those discussions.

But, thanks be to God, my picture tells the real story: it shows God’s people coming together in bold-but-humble prayer during confusing, desperate times.

And here’s more of that real story:

Friends and family report that Jon has undergone multiple surgeries, including an amputation. Doctors have opened his skull numerous times, and, until this weekend, he had been mostly unresponsive to his visitors.

But, as of Monday, “Jon is starting to wake up!!!!! He gave the nurse a thumbs up!!!!!!!!!! God is faithful!!!!!!!” his cousin Sadie Kopecky reports on Facebook.

Still other Facebook reports say Jon has started responding (albiet very weakly) to visitors and is showing more and more healthy signs each hour. Doctors have told Jon’s father that they expect our brother to, eventually, recover fully to a productive life.

And the Holy Spirit is evident in that very word “fully” that keeps getting thrown around in these posts.

You caught my mention that an amputation was among Jon’s many surgeries, right?

Is it really possible to “recover fully” from a missing limb? Are Jon’s doctors just crazy — and maybe even irresponsible — when they suggest such a thing?

God’s real news is this: Yes, Jon’s full recovery is possible. In fact, He has promised even more than that.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” — Jeremiah 29:11

“After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.” — Job 42:10

“Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once more.” — Psalm 71:20-21

God does not, of course, promise that Jon’s full recovery will be painless, easy, fast, or inexpensive. Nor does He promise He won’t call everyone reading this to important work that will contribute according to our abilities.

And, on that note, several of the people in this picture are now planning a bake sale to help raise money to defray some of Jon’s expenses. They intend to set up a table at Stewarts Grocery in Sweeny on Oct. 12. I will post further details in the “Breaking News” section of this site as Jon’s family and friends make them available.

And I’m planning to be there with my camera, notebook, and tape recorder, as a good reporter should.

Glory be to God for all that is!