It was about the time that I had gotten to Giles Co., passing through a place called Pearisburg that I knew that I really was running on fumes. That’s when I felt the urge to pray, “Lord Jesus, Please help me get home this morning, I really need to get there so I can go to work. I really don’t want to die tonight and leave my children without a father…”
There for a second I felt a peace wash over me and I thought to myself, “Yeah, I can do this, I’m only an hour away from home” as I continued down the road with the cruise control set at 70 mph.
I couldn’t tell you how much time had elapsed from the time that I made that prayer until I heard the sound of the air horn that woke me up. All I know is I had fallen asleep and when I woke up I was up in the middle of the median traveling an at angle towards a tractor trailer. His horn & headlights startled me so bad that I inadvertently yanked the steering wheel to the right.

With the grass being wet from the morning dew and the mustang being rear wheel drive, I felt rear end going out from underneath me as I began to fishtail back towards the road. I tried to counter the slide by steering the opposite way, but it was too late. I was in a dead spin. I spiraled twice across 460 before the car slammed sideways into a small mound of dirt and grass on the shoulder of the road.
That’s when everything seemed to of gone in slow motion. Out of my peripheral vision I saw the dirt flying on my left as I felt the right side of the car lifting off the ground as it began to careen on its left and pivot. I thought to myself, “This is it! I am going to die!” You just don’t roll a convertible over and walk away from it.
Then, just as suddenly, it seemed as time went back to normal. The right side of the Mustang slammed back down to the ground as if it were pushed back down by an unseen force, and the back end spun around as I went sliding backwards down an embankment until I slammed into a ditch.
You can best believe this, I was definitely wide awake after that! After thanking God for keeping me safe, I got out and inspected the car. Other than the dirt and grass that was caked on the left side of the car, there was any damage whatsoever to the vehicle.
Several minutes later a cop showed up after someone witnessing this had called it in. As soon as he arrived I walked up the bank and met him on the side of the road.
“Judging by your tire marks where you spun across the road and the impression that you left in the bank there, you are lucky that you didn’t flip your car over.”
If he only knew.
After asking me if I was OK, he went on to ask me what had happened.
“Man, I’m not going bother lying to you,” I told him. “I fell asleep behind the wheel.”
“Well, I am afraid I am going to have to issue you a ticket for failing to maintain control of a vehicle,” he said. “And, you’re going to have to get your car pulled out. It just so happens that I know a guy that I can call for you, but being that it is Sunday he is going to charge you extra.”
I just shrugged my shoulders. Then I asked him. “Is it by chance Spud?” He was a local there, who just like me wore many hats.
“You know Spud?” he asked.
“Yeah, I know Crash Test Dummy!” I told him.
“Excuse me,” he shot back.
“Well, that’s what I call him anyway after he flipped the town’s only fire truck over and broke that guys collarbone. Tell me something, how ticked off are the townies at him for smashing up a half million dollar truck?”
He was clearly puzzled. “How do you know about that and how do you know Spud?” he asked me.
“Oh, he and I work for the same electrical company that’s helping build you guys a new hospital.”
“Well, in that case I am going to tear this ticket since you know Spud and that you’re helping with building us a new hospital.”
“Well, I really appreciate that. Speaking of which, you’d be surprised by the friends that I’ve got. Some of them are in some pretty high places,” I said as I looked up to the heavens.
“You know something, I do believe you may be right,” he shot back.

After coming back to prison I was one of the first prisoners that the Virginia D.O.C. allowed to store their digital case files on one of their servers. Accessing those files from a remote computer I would log into my account and as my personal settings loaded the first thing that I always saw was the picture of me standing beside of that very same Mustang. Looking at that image reminded me of the numerous trips that I made back to West Virginia. As it turned out the last time that I was planning to go to West Virginia was on June 5th, 2010, which was a trip thatI never made. The end result from that fateful day was I became the first person that the Court of Appeals of Virginia, the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the United States Supreme Court upheld for convictions for aggravated malicious wounding and second-degree murder of the SAME victim stemming from a single stabbing. More importantly though, looking at the image of me standing beside my Mustang was a reminder that God’s Word is indeed true.

Why do I believe in Jesus? I believe in Him simply because I have felt the presence of God at work throughtout my life.

* This testimony was presented to my very special friends Jack & Kathy, The Nottoway Tabernacle Church of Love, and to the host of Heaven on May 26th, 2019.

Next in the series: Why do I believe? – Part 3

Thank you for taking the time to read this. As always, all feedback is encouraged and welcomed. And of course, I also encourage direct communication with any of my readers.

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Contact me via snail mail:

David Bomber #1130793
Nottoway Correctional Center
P.O. Box 488
Burkeville, Va. 23922

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