July 28th 2012

If I were to ask you, are you ready to die? What would be your answer? Most Christians today actually say, yeah I'm ready because I know I'm going to heaven. But are they really ready? If they had the chance to look at death itself in the face could they really say that they are ready to meet their Maker and hear him say, you have done well my good and faithful servant? I know for a fact I was ready...only because I did have the opportunity to look death in the face. July 28th is not only my birthday from this year forward but also the day that will forever be etched in my mind. The day that I almost watched my best friend die and then die with him. My family, friends, and I went to Corn Creek in Wetumpka for my birthday. We had some fun walking around in the creek and watching many attempt to swing off a rope into the water...yeah that was entertaining. Eventually some of the people walked back to the place where we had put all of our stuff and me and some others stayed behind to look around. We had put our stuff on like this "beach" and a little ways out in the water were these huge rocks you could climb on and past the rocks were the rapids where many people went kayaking. My brother Javan and one my closest friends, Jamal, decided they were going to swim through the rapids to get to this "island". Well as they were swimming, about half way, Jamal realized that he wasn't going anywhere and started drowning (I'm not entirely sure about all the details during this part) well he went into shock and couldn't gain control of himself. My brother went out to save him but he grabbed on to Javan and started pulling him under, so Javan pushed away and swam back up onto the "island" and started screaming for help. My other friends and I walked back up when Javan pushed him away. I thought they were just playing around because Javan was screaming until I realized the fear that was in my brothers voice. I thought something was wrong with Javan. Sarah and I just started running for the water and we both jumped in and just started swimming as fast as we could. Well before I knew it Sarah had stopped fighting the current and had gone downstream. So it was just me. It felt like there were hundreds of miles between Jamal and I. There was one point were I just felt totally hopeless...there was no way I could physically get to him in time. Of course I had a crazy amount of adrenaline pumping through my body and I had the strength of God because I did finally make it to him. When I was finally close enough to look him in the eyes I realized that I was about to lose my best friend. His pupils were huge and his eyes were glazed over...he had mentally gone into shock. I can not even begin to tell you what it feels like to look into the eyes of someone in that state of mind. I freaked out and made the worst decision I possibly could. I told him to grab my hand. He started pulling me under and wouldn't let me up. I only remember coming up one time for air. While he was holding me underwater I started thinking...this is it...I'm not going to make it up. I remember hearing my families voices and laughter...I saw the Hispanic kids that I have been spending so much time with...and then I saw this light. This light was so bright I remember shutting my eyes tightly and still being able to see it. All of a sudden something told me to punch Jamal. So I did. I punched him in the stomach and he jerked away from me. When I finally swam back up to the top of the water, I saw a man standing on the rocks. He had a scruffy brown beard and messy brown hair but his eyes were so calm and his voice was quiet. He looked right into my eyes and said "Just follow me Hallay and I will give you rest. Jamal will live. Just follow me." So I floated on top of the water and stared gasping for air. I was trying so hard to get control of myself because I knew time was of the essence. Finally I started swimming again and started talking to Jamal, leading him to the rocks. I just kept saying "Follow me Jamal" as I kept swimming towards the rocks. I would repeat over and over again "The Lord is my Good Shepherd, I will not walk in fear". Everytime he went under and came back up I would yell at him "Do not give up on me Jamal". The last time he went under he stayed under for a long time...I really thought in that moment that I would never see my dear friend again until finally he came back up. Javan walked out to us where the water was about at his shoulders and waited for us to get to him. As soon as Jamal got there we both grabbed his arms and pulled him up onto the rocks. I stuck my head into his chest because I had no other strength and I knew I had to hold him up. Gradually I felt myself fading. I knew I was losing myself...if that makes any sense. I remember asking my brother to hold me up and then everything goes blank. According to others, a man came over on his kayak and realized that I was unconscious so he put me on the Kayak. Now sometime after we got Jamal up on the rocks my friend Samuel swam over to help. But I don't remember. Anyways so Sam got me on the kayak and they took me back to the beach area and someone called 911. I have no idea what happened during this time but I know that everyone was scared. When the perimedics came they put an oxygen mask on me and did some other stuff. The first thing I remember thinking was...he is going to stick a needle in me. Now for those of you who don't know, I am deathly afraid of needles. After that everything is kind of blurry. Quite obviously I am fine now but the memories keep haunting my mind. I can still see Jamal's eyes and hear his voice yelling for help and begging me not to leave him. I can still see myself underwater and having no way of getting air. Physically I am so incredibly sore and I have been having headaches from the lack of oxygen. And you can see Jamal's fingerprints on one of my arms where he grabbed me. But honestly, I would do it all over again, allowing God to use me as a tool to save someone's life. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost Jamal that day. The fact that God allowed both of us to live is a mystery and testament to what he has planned for our lives. And on top of all of that I really do believe that the man standing on the rocks was my Guardian Angel. Not many people get to see theirs in their lifetime, but I did. Am I ready and willing to die? Yes. Are you?