by Darrell White

Created on: October 13, 2007

Do you believe in angels or that miracles really can happen, or do you just think things happen good or bad out of chance? Do you tell yourself that you were lucky to have survived a certain situation or do you say I was blessed? Sometimes I catch myself saying "I was just lucky", but if I go back to that one very important life changing experience that I had as a youngster, I have to say I was blessed. I need to set the story as accurately as possible, however this situation happened many years ago and some of the details have been lost or corrupted over time. I will start by saying that the actual event is true and that only some of the details have been modified. The setting is a camping trip in Kentucky at a camp ground called Beach Bend. I would have been around the age of five or six, and my sister was supposed to be looking out for me while my parents were away from the immediate site. These are the details I mentioned that may be clouded due to the age of the actual event. I'm not real sure where my parents were, or what distracted my sister enough that she failed to do the duty that my parents entrusted in her. I remember that it had been raining a lot, at least all night and that it hadn't been a gentle rain, the kind of down pour that creates that uncomfortable tent dampness when you wake up the next morning. I'm sure that the day would have started out normal, dad's special any kind of meat gravy over bread and the normal how did you sleep talk. I don't mean to poke fun of the gravy because it was actually always very good with sliced hot-dogs, mild sausage, and a can of milnot creamer which gave it a slight sweetened taste. After breakfast, I'm not real sure where everyone was positioned, only that again my sister was supposed to be watching me and that it is certain that I was about to test her skills as a babysitter. I headed off in the direction of the sound of flowing water. If you have ever been to this camp ground, you would know that the river runs along the back side of the property. Somewhere in route I met up with another child about the same age as me, as I recall it was a girl. I do not remember what conversation I might have had with her prior to my incident, only that by the grace of God she was with me. I remember us walking toward the river that was swollen and flowing rapidly due the rain the night before and as we approached it, there was a small slanted concrete dock for tying up boats. The words "Don't walk on that, you might

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