THE RESCUE

Howard County Sheriff Jerry Marr got a disturbing call one Saturday afternoon a few months ago. A car had hit his 6-year-old grandson Mikey while he was fishing with his dad. The father and son were near a bridge by the Kokomo Reservoir when a woman lost control of her car, slid off the bridge and hit Mikey at a rate of about 50 mph. Sheriff Mar had seen the results of accidents like this and feared the worst.

When he got to Saint Joseph Hospital, he rushed through the emergency room to find Mikey conscious and in fairly good spirits. "Mikey, what happened?" Sheriff Marr asked. Mikey replied, "Well, Papaw, I was fishin' with Dad, and some lady runned me over, I flew into a mud puddle, and broke my fishin' pole and I didn't get to catch no fish!"

As it turned out, the impact propelled Mikey about 500 feet, over a few trees and an embankment and in the middle of a mud puddle. His only injuries were to his right femur bone, which had broken in two places. Mikey had surgery to place pins in his leg. Otherwise the boy is fine.

Since all the boy could talk about was that his fishing pole was broken, the Sheriff went out to Wal-mart® and bought him a new one while he was in surgery so he could have it when he came out. The next day the Sheriff sat with Mikey to keep him company in the hospital. Mikey was enjoying his new fishing pole and talked about when he could go fishing again as he cast into the trash can. When they were alone, Mikey matter-of-factly, said, "Papaw, did you know Jesus is real?" "Well," the Sheriff replied, a little startled. "Yes, Jesus is real to all who believe in him and love him in their hearts." "No," said Mikey. "I mean Jesus is REALLY real." "What do you mean?" asked the Sheriff. "I know he's real 'cause I saw him" said Mikey, still casting into the trash can. "You did?" said the Sheriff. "Yep," said Mikey. "When that lady runned me over and broke my fishing pole, Jesus caught me in his arms and laid me down in the mud puddle."