When I Was a Cowgirl in Hawaii

In the late 80s, I was a cowgirl. Well, not really--but I often dressed like one. I was a youth pastor and a lot of our home-town kids were into going to rodeos and cow-stuff.  So, "When in East Texas... do as the East Texans do." I wore Rocky Mountain jeans, had Justin Roper boots (with matching belts, of course) and went to rodeos.

I was good friends with a couple who owned a local western wear store. It was a popular place to shop and hang out--and the man who owned it was a well-known professional rodeo dude. One late afternoon, I was helping them relocate to their new, larger store and he was out in the front trying to raise the big Justin Roper boot sign by the highway. He was attempting to hoist this sign by using a tractor. We heard an awful sound and ran out to find the sign had fallen on him--across his back. He was not moving. He was turning a horrible color and his eyes were desperate and bulging. I will never forget his expression.

I yelled for people to go get help and I put my hand on him and began to pray. I told him he would live and not die. I screamed for him to "LIVE! LIVE!" and kept praying and quoting every scripture that would come to mind. After what seemed like forever, the ambulance carried him away and his wife and I followed to the ER.

He survived--but with horrible breaks in his back and he was in very critical condition for a week in ICU. His wife and I lived on the floor in ICU as we prayed and fought for his life--visiting him whenever we were allowed to see him.

He had to learn to walk again. To care about living again--through all the pain. He was hospitalized for a long time and then moved to rehabilitation. It changed everything for their lives. But he managed to get to the other side and give testimony of God's grace in saving him.

He was interviewed by a pro-rodeo magazine so he could tell his story. He told them that he died but he could hear me shouting for him to LIVE... and he snapped back... knowing he was not to die yet.

(We were good friends--always kidding around and I said, "NO! I was saying 'LEAVE!', not 'LIVE!'"  hahaha That was our joke. He said, "Ohhhhh! You are going to have to repent!!!"  He was right.)

When he was strong enough to manage the store again, he sent me and his wife to Hawaii for 7 days -- one day for each night we spent sleeping on the floor in the ICU waiting room. It was a great trip! The whales were rolling in the ocean, we went out on a private yacht that had been owned by Marlon Brando, we took a dinner cruise, went to a luau, took a small plane to Maui for a hike/picnic excursion, snorkeled, climbed Diamond Head (Yes, I did!), went to Pearl Harbor, saw Mt. Kilauea erupting as we flew over it in a helicopter... Yep, this was no ICU floor!

During the entire trip, as we enjoyed all the wonders that were around every corner, we marveled the most at how God saved her husband's life. We were so humbled and amazed at God's goodness.

And Hawaii wasn't that bad, either!