I realized this morning that I still haven’t blogged about the accident itself, now 1 week ago today.  Without which my blog might seem strange because it just got all medical and about coping with pain one day, without explanation. So here goes.
It all started with an early breakfast at Loula’s in Whitefish, great eggs benedict and some super black coffee. Then Brian and I took Greg Laurie up to the Montana Bible School at the Pottersfield Ranch in Olney where Don McClure had arranged for him to do a Q&A and then we were going to go snowmobiling for a little bit on their property. On the way to the ranch we got rear-ended by this super nervous kid, there was no damage but he was so stressed, Brian told him not to worry about it and Greg told him, “Jesus loves you.” His eyes welled up with tears and he said, “you don’t know how much that means!” We ended up praying for him and he bailed. Ministry opportunities are everywhere! Even with the accident we got to the school early and I had time to beat Greg at Ping-Pong (24-22) before the meeting began. All the questions were about ministry and calling and his answers were just straight from the heart and super practical. Then we suited up to hit the snow. We had given Greg the option of going dog-sledding or snowmobiling. Being a harley guy he picked the faster of the two. I have only been on snowmobiles a few other times but it was really fun and I was totally surprised by how fast they are. It was a relatively small area, just a big open field with some little bumps and small hills, for about half an hour we went back and forth and then started hitting the little jumps and even getting a little air. Then I went off to a side close to the road and was headed for what I thought was a little berm but as I got closer I saw it was actually this little gully. I was going too fast to stop or turn away and I was afraid of what would happen if I rode into it so I gassed it and thought maybe I could jump over it. That is precisely what happened but I guess I rose to my feet in the air and when I hit the other side my left thigh hit the handlebar with all the weight from the impact. The pain was blinding and sickening and the next thing I knew I was lying on the ground and the first thought I had was that I broke my neck. I began moving my arms and legs to see if I could, my arms moved fine but when I tried to move my left leg I felt my bone in my thigh being the only thing I could move around. Everything below it felt like it was full of jelly and not connected. “I broke my leg.” I thought. I didn’t know if the bone was out of the skin but it was for sure moving around where there was no natural hinge. I motioned for Greg and Brian to come over and yelled out “help” they came and Brian got my helmet off, at this point I wasn’t really in pain yet, probably in shock, and I told them, I think I have a compound fracture. I asked where my snowmobile was, I thought it had gotten stuck in the gully, but they told me I had cleared it and it was 5 or 10 feet away and standing upright. (you can see in one of the pictures, my green machine and me, where we both landed.)
It took 25 minutes for the ambulance to come from Olney, after waiting about 10 the pain started setting in and began getting really sick to my stomach and overcome by psycho waves of trauma. Greg and Brian were awesome, holding my hands, praying for me and comforting me. I began thinking of flights to be rescheduled, speaking engagements to be canceled, and a tour to Israel I won’t be going on. It all swirled around me as I lied there helplessly in the snow. Some other people began to show up with some very interesting ideas, I remember hearing “we could just put him in a van and take him to town.” and another person said, “I have some cardboard and a stick, we can splint his leg ourselves.” I am grateful that my friends fielded these with the bright response of “let’s wait for the ambulance” and later my surgeon told me the broken bone could have severed the femoral artery had I been improperly moved. Greg kept taking pictures and all the shots of the injury on this blog are from his iPhone. At one point I heard someone ask him why he was taking all the photos and he said: “if you knew Levi, you’d know he will want these on his blog” Too true!
The Paramedics told me they would have to cut off my pants and I, strangely enough, objected because under my snowboarding pants I was wearing my favorite jeans and somehow couldn’t bear the thought of them being cut off. That’s good logic–my life is on the line and I am concerned with some blue jeans. (I blame my name) Greg chimed in, “I’ll buy you a new pair.” After cutting through my denim, they put my leg in a splint and it hurt like crazy, I sobbed like a baby and cried out in pain uncontrollably. I can’t describe how it felt but I have never hurt like that before. When they would move my leg, the foot would rotate too far without my being able to control it. I was lifted on the stretcher like a viking on his shield and carried through the snow to the ambulance. Greg rode with me and once we were moving asked if I could be given something for the pain. They said they were not licensed to carry drugs and they were a volunteer paramedic service. We could either meet the Whitefish ambulance and transfer on the roadside or try and make it to the hospital without medication. That was an easy question– I wanted drugs. We made the transfer on the side of the road and the Whitefish EMT’s got an iv going and morphine pumping immediately. Now we’re talking. I was even able to invite one of them to Fresh Life. She told me she does all her worshiping in Glacier National Park, presumably worshiping nature. I told her, creation points to the creator, and it is God that deserves our worship. From there I was whisked into the hospital where Jennie was waiting, it was so good to see her! At that point the drugs really started to kick in. Many visitors came that I don’t remember at all. X-rays were done, and the femur was in fact snapped in half. My dad flew in to be with me, Greg and Cathe flew out, and I had a titanium rod surgically inserted into my thigh. As bad as it was, I know it could have been worse. I broke the biggest and strongest bone in my body, logic tells me that I could have more easily broken my neck or back. Even in suffering God is good and I am grateful to be alive and not paralyzed. I am definitely hanging up my snowmobiling spurs though!

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