I Spy (Amazing Fingerprints of God, by Debbie)

Even before Mark and I got married, almost 20 years ago, we started playing a game we called “I Spy!” We imagined we were playing Hide-and-Seek with God, trying to catch glimpses of Him at work around us. He has let us see His hand MANY times, but never more than right now. I’d like to share with you some of the “I Spy”s we’ve seen in the last 2 weeks.

Last Wednesday night, as we drove down I-40 towards the Grand Canyon, most of the passengers were dozing. We thought NOTHING about where each of us was in the vehicle. Mark was the driver, and Ruthanne was sitting in the passenger seat next to him. Daniel was sitting, facing backwards, at the small table, while I faced him on the opposite bench. Abigail and Joanna were both buckled in, lying down on the couch on the right side of the bus. One of the things we enjoyed about the bus was the way we could all change where we rode, switching positions every few hours. Probably around 10 pm I got up to check that Abby & Joanna’s belts were still well-positioned as they slept; they were. I was so tired that, rather than going back to my seat and buckling in again, as was my practice, I decided to lie down on the bed “just for a few minutes”. Our family is extremely conscientious about wearing our seatbelts, but this time I let it slide. When the crash occurred, about 40 minutes later, I was still asleep on the bed. I was thrown out of the bus as it rolled. The bus was flipped through the air, and when it landed (on its right side), everything was hurled to the left. The seat I had been buckled into was a disaster! Almost simultaneously, our 7 gallon water canister hurled onto the seat, then the entire wooden “bathroom” collapsed onto it, crushing the seat. If I had been sitting there, it is most likely I would not have lived, and—if I had—I probably would have had part of my body severed! God’s grace to me is amazing! As far as where the others were sitting, we also see God’s hand in this. As most of you know, Ruthanne’s entire spine and central nervous system are extremely fragile, due to her cervico cranial syndrome. She & Mark were at the front of the bus, and this section seems to have been the safest. Both Mark & Ruthanne sustained only minimal injuries. If Ruthanne had been sitting closer to me and Daniel, it is likely she would have fractured her neck (like both of us have) and this could have been disastrous for her. We see God’s hand in where each of us “happened” to be at the time of the crash.


God knew about this accident before we even left on our trip, and started making provision for us. When we bought the camper bus, we were delighted with the couch that folded out to make another bed. The couch had 6 loose cushions on it that seemed just perfect to us. 2 days before we left for our trip, Mark made a spontaneous trip to the nearby thrift store (he rarely goes to the thrift store—that’s what I do) and found a fold-out futon mattress. It wasn’t even in the right section of the store. Mattresses & beds are kept inside, on the far left of the complex, and Mark was out in “the yard” with the windows & doors, on the far right of the complex. The man working the yard had NO idea who had put it there, or why it was there. Mark thought it might fit the bus’ couch, so he bought it for $10. When we tried it in the bus, it was a perfect fit, so we decided to take it, instead of the 6 loose couch cushions, figuring it would give us an extra mattress for sleeping. I had to figure out a way to cut holes in it and reinforce them so we could fit the seat belts through it. We just thought this was a nice provision from God . . . but it was so much more! Joanna was sleeping on the couch when the crash occurred. When the bus came to a stop, she was hanging from the “roof”, attached only by her lap belt. On site, the EMTs were very concerned about her having internal bleeding and other injuries, but she didn’t! Her only serious injuries were along the left side of her body, with her needing stitches in her elbow and having severe abrasions and deep lacerations across her belly where the seat belt had been. It was only 2 days later that I realized what God had done, and I was covered in chills at God’s provision!!! If we had kept the original cushions, they would have scattered and slid out from under Joanna immediately. This would have left a good 10 inches of slack in her seatbelt; she could have easily slid out of it, and even if she didn’t, all the slackness would probably have given her severe internal injuries. Additionally, she could easily have been flung into, or even out of, the large glass windows directly above her, maybe even being crushed by the bus. As it was, the mattress folded in a long V-shape around her, cocooning her as she tumbled and cushioning her from flying objects and glass. She was held safely! God kept Joanna safe through a “spontaneous” purchase of something that shouldn’t even have been for sale in that location!


Another way we see God’s hand is in His prompting Mark to spend the 2 days before we left bolting down both the couch and bed into the metal frame of the bus. With the departure time rapidly approaching, we had a myriad of things to do, and this detail could easily have been passed over. After all, the previous owners had specifically designed the couch & bed to be removable, and they had driven thousands of miles without incident. Even in a fast brake, those pieces were not going anywhere as they were so heavy. For all practical purposes they were immovable . . . just not in a case of a roll-over, and what are the chances of THAT happening?! We thank God for His prompting!


While we were in Texas, we had what seemed to be a bad thing happen. Our air conditioner went out. Romans 8:28 promises that ALL things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes, and IT IS TRUE! In order to change the bus from a camper that slept 2 to one that slept 6, we had been creative in making new beds. We added thick wooden boards that would fit on top of the table, across the seats, etc, to make enough sleeping space. While we travelled, all these boards were tucked in under the pile of egg carton mattresses. While Mark was sitting there in Texas , , , in the auto store . . . for hour after hour . . . with nothing to do but think & stare at all the goods for sale . . he realized that “if we were ever to roll”, all that heavy lumber would slide and crush whoever was in its way. So he bought heavy duty tie-downs, and strapped all those boards down so they couldn’t become airborne. They didn’t! After the crash, Mark was able to see that they were still all under the mattress pile. God used a delay on our trip and prompted Mark to add an extra safety feature that helped save our lives!

The bus had a microwave oven mounted into the overhead cabinet. Going down some rough dirt roads had loosened it, so Mark had re-set the screws, but even the NEW ones loosened. So he mounted a heavy-duty elastic tie-down diagonally across the face of the microwave to keep it in place. This was just a few days before the accident . . . . Even with flipping and rolling over, the microwave stayed in place. God is so gracious!!!

And all of these “I Spy!”s were in place even before our tires left the pavement the night of June 30th!

What caused the accident was a blow out in the front right tire of a SUV that was passing us. They veered into us, pushing us off the road, and then both vehicles flew through the air, flipping, and then continuing to roll once they hit the ground. On our trip we have driven MANY MANY miles where the road had little or even no guard rails, with sheer drop offs of hundreds of feet. Even if this accident had occurred as little as 4 minutes earlier, we would have rolled down steep mountain sides, and probably could not have survived the impact. God’s timing is impeccable!!

There was a U-Haul with a man, his wife, & sister-in-law right behind us. They stopped and helped us, and were God’s first “angels”. The man found me, lying on the ground with the fiberglass roof of the bus covering me. He checked that I wasn’t being crushed, then went to help Mark, Ruthanne & Daniel break out of the bus. Once they were out, he returned to me and stayed with me for about 40 minutes, keeping me from moving. He was adamant about it! My memory is very spotty but I do remember him assuring me that my children were all alright, and that he was telling me the truth. He would NOT let me move at all, even though he could tell I was uncomfortable. As I have 2 fractured vertebrae in my neck this could easily have kept me from being paralyzed . . . or worse. His wife gathered and stayed with the kids. Apparently, according to the girls, she kept saying the same few sentences over and over for the next 35 minutes: “I am certified in CPR. If your mom was dying, I’d HAVE to be over there, working on her, until the EMTs arrived. But I’m not; I’m here with you. That means she is OKAY.” Especially for Abby & Joanna, this gave them stability. An 18-wheeler also stopped, with the driver blocking traffic and shining his lights down into the wreck, which was very helpful. We thank God for the people He had on site!

Because the helicopter was taking me to Flagstaff Medical Center, that’s where they took the rest of the family too, by ambulance. Now, having talked to “people who know”, Flagstaff Medical Center is THE place to be if you are needing medical attention in that part of the country. God knew this, and arranged for us to have the best medical care.

Many of our caregivers have been strong Christians. My nurse that first day, Janis, is married to a chaplain. (Janis only works part-time; in fact, that 7 am to 7 pm shift was her only 12 hour shift scheduled this entire summer! God had her there just for me.) The plastic surgeon who operated on Daniel, the doctor whose care we were under during our entire hospital stay, the neurologist and the doctor who cared for Joanna in the ER are all bold Christians. We found we had “family members we hadn’t met yet” caring for us.

When my nurse, Janis, returned home that first night, her husband, Don, greeted her with, “I wonder if you met somebody I’ve been praying for all day.” Don is a retired police chaplain, so he has a police scanner. On Wednesday night, he was up late, preparing a sermon, and had the scanner on “as background noise”. He heard about our accident, and started praying for us from the first instant, even before help arrived on the scene! God kept us on his heart all through the night and next day . . . and arranged for his wife to be my nurse. Don came and helped us through the 3 hour discharge process from the hospital; we feel we’ve known Don & Janis all our lives. Thank God for new friends.

We have been SOOOOOO well cared for!!!!!! Through the network of the family of God, we have had every need met. On my first day in the hospital FIVE area pastors came to visit, each one meeting a special need. The hospital staff was rather overwhelmed by the number of visitors! Janis said I had more visitors in one day than most people (who have lived in Flagstaff their whole life) have in the entire hospital stay. Immediately their love started being expressed in very practical ways: one church provided fresh clothing for Mark and the girls, someone bought groceries & snack food for them, toiletries were provided, a new friend thought to buy Mark a trac phone and fill it with minutes, a church brought Bibles over to us, a special friend sent each of the girls a teddy bear (and those bears did not leave Abby & Joanna’s arms the first several days!) I thought all our needs were met, and then, as they were talking about discharging us, I realized Daniel & I had nothing to wear, as they had cut our clothing off of us. Just minutes later a smiling woman walked into my room. “Hi, my name is Kathy. You don’t know me, but how can I help you?” One of our church members (John Savaadro) had contacted her church, and she’d come to see how she could help. She was more than happy to go buy a full set of clothes for both Daniel & me. This care continued even after we were out of the hospital. We were even given a fully furnished house to stay in—a wonderful provision! Once we were there, members of the local PCA church brought us supper each night, and a local thrift store opened its doors to us, letting us choose clothing, books & even toys for the younger ones. Special friends, Randy & Patty, went with Mark to the bus, to salvage all they could, while Gwen worked back in SC to find our bus title, make a certified copy of it, and express mail it to us so they could gain access to the bus. Christians have been “Jesus in skin” to us!

When Mark & Patty examined the wreck and the accident site, Mark noticed even more evidences of God’s grace during the wreck: Every window in the bus was shattered in the roll over, except for the front windows. Especially amazing was the fact that the front door window did not break, as it was not automobile glass, and could have become sharp shards right in Ruthanne’s face. Behind Mark’s seat was a tote and tools, such as a six-ton jack and tire iron. The bus flipped over and landed on the front, right side first, so the trajectory for those items was to be flung to the right and forward . . . right to where Ruthanne was sitting! Amazingly, Mark found them in the back of the bus . . . and none of us suffered the sort of injuries a six-ton jack would have caused if it had hit one of us. God’s angels were working overtime to keep us safe!!

Our church, Cornerstone, has set up a fund to help us with the costs of flying back home and other related expenses. Now that we’re home, friends are lining up to bring meals and help with laundry & other tasks. We feel God’s arms around us through all the practical loving help His people have given—and continue to give—us.

As prayer networks spanning the GLOBE were activated on our behalf, God answered. From the moment I regained consciousness at the accident site, my left arm had intense, shooting pain from shoulder to fingertips. I didn’t know an arm could hurt so badly! These nerves are rooted in the vertebrae C5, C6 & C7, and, as I’d fractured C6 & C7, it was feared that I would need surgery. We asked for prayer that the intense pain would stop . . . and it did, never to return! An MRI showed there was no damage requiring surgery. My hand was still numb, so friends prayed about that, and feeling started returning. Only my index finger remains totally numb now, with most feeling returning to the rest of the hand. The prognosis for total healing with time is very good. Many prayed for Daniel’s broken jaw, and it is healing at record speed. He has already had the wires holding his 2 jaws together removed, and is off his liquid-only diet. He can basically eat whatever he wants, as long as it is cut up into small enough pieces. As for Mark, Ruthanne, Abigail & Joanna, no one looking at them would have any idea they’d been through a car accident!! Our physical healing is on “fast forward”, with each day bringing new movement, reduced swelling & bruising, and less pain. We are overflowing with gratitude to God for the healing He is bringing in answer to specific prayers.

As we sat in Flagstaff’s airport, waiting to fly home, a man walked past and said “Hello Wenger family.” It was Dr Everly, the neurologist who treated us . . . and he was taking the same flight we were. As we boarded, we found that he was even sitting directly behind us! He told us to let him know if we had any concerns or problems during the flight. It was a small thing, but it made Mark feel better to know there was a doctor on board who was already acquainted with our condition.

Upon return to Columbia and meeting with a couple of our insurance claims agents, we realized more of how God had been preparing us for the wreck. Since the bus was originally created as a public transit bus, the title listed it as a commercial vehicle. Because our insurance company wouldn’t cover a commercial policy, we shopped around and chose Farm Bureau. David, our agent, explained that the one thing we should do with a commercial titled vehicle is be sure we were well covered for un-insured and under-insured drivers. He strongly advised that we be well covered, including making sure that all three of our vehicles had policies that could “flow over” so that when one policy is exhausted, the next can cover what’s lacking. The medical bills are likely to go over $100,000, and we have more than that available – directly because of the advice and help we received in choosing our insurance policy. Thank you Lord!

There are more “fingerprints of God” that I could list, but it has already taken me several days to write this much, and I can tell my energy is about done for today. I’ll stop for now, post this, and write more later. I actually plan on making a Creative Memories digital scrapbook entitled “I Spy!”, chronicling how God has let us catch glimpses of Himself through this ordeal.

THANK YOU for your prayers, love and practical help!!! It is truly amazing to see God at work in so many ways. We are blessed beyond measure!!!

Debbie, for the Wengers

“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, O Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Sing praises to the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done.”
Psalm 9:1-2, 9-11

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LATER ADDENDUM:

Abigail (12 yrs) woke up to the sound of the tire in the SUV next to us blowing, so she was conscious for the entire time of flipping & rolling. The first day she visited me in the hospital she told me what she remembered of the accident. She remembers waking up with the sound of a loud BANG and then rolling & turning. She felt "like [she] was in a tornado", and was calling out to the rest of the family, but no one would answer. She was holding tightly to a board in front of her, and felt like everyone was throwing things at her. Next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground with the board still clutched in her hands, on top of her. She flung it off, got up, looked around...and believed she was the only survivor of the accident. When Joanna crawled out of the wreck, they knew they had each other, but thought no one else had made it. The first indication Mark knew they were alive was that he heard them outside the bus crying, "We're all alone! Who will take care of us? What will happen to us?!"

This year in Children's Church, Abigail has helped me as we have taught our way through the names of our great God. One of them is Jehovah Magginenu, The Lord is my Shield, and another is Jehovah Sabbaoth, the Lord of Hosts. As she recounted this to me, I had such a clear mental picture of an angel being behind her, reaching its arms protectively around her and covering her small hands with its own strong ones, holding her firmly to the board. Its body protected her back from the sharpest of edges and blunted the blows. I called her that night to tell her my picture. After a brief pause she said, "Mom, I felt that everyone was throwing things at me, but I don't think any of them ever HIT me." Sure enough! She had absolutely NO cuts or bruises on her body!! Apart from 2 cuts on her legs and some bruising on her forearm, she was unscathed!! And we had A LOT of sharp, heavy & dangerous objects rotating with us!!!

This ALONE was enough to give me goosebumps...but I hadn't heard "the rest of the story". Having heard Abby's story, Mark searched the site of the accident twice, that night and also in the daylight....and there was NO BOARD!!!! Neither did he find one inside the bus when he had a chance to go through that several days later! He says it was the Shield of the Lord that was protecting her!!!

Description of the accident, by Mark

The accident, to the best of my memory after about 10 hours of sleep.

We had passed mile marker 138...the last one I noticed before everything happened. We were climbing an incline..not a real steep one as earlier down the road, but a steady hill, so we were in the right lane, slowing down. The Wonderbus had a really great engine...carrying us over 4300 miles of some of the most incredible scenery and difficult roads I've ever driven on, but I don't like to push the engine unless necessary, so we were probably down to about 65 as we were climbing near the top of the rise. Lights were in my side mirror, as someone was overtaking us, not speeding, just going closer to the speedlimit of 75 mph. Suddenly there was a loud bang and thudding sound. I've heard it before on one of my tires (at a much slower speed) so I immediately knew "Blow out!!!". I was already holding the steering wheel with both hands, but I gripped harder, and then we were being blinded by bright lights coming from the left and a hard and horrendous crash hit just a few inches behind my shoulder, and we were being pushed hard and fast to the right.

I fought hard to push the vehicle back to the left, while also nearly standing on the brakes, but we were hitting the rumble strips on the shoulder of the road, and I could see dirt ahead. The back of the bus was swerving around to the right, so I turned hard to the right as well, hoping to straighten us out and recover, but we were in dirt by now, and the bus started to go over.

The sensation of a large vehicle falling over at high speed is the most terrifying feeling I have ever had...I think it will be the stuff of my nightmares for years to come. Complete and utter helplessness. All I could do was hold on to the steering wheeling as tightly as I could. I remember crying out, "Oh God, save us!" as we rolled completely over, and then again as we continued rolling, but nothing else do I remember saying. I was overwhelmed by the noise, and light, and dust...I could hear and sense that things were tumbling all around us in the bus.

The rolling and tumbling continued for what felt like an eternity. One's senses truly are more extended when going through a crisis...and what probably took less than 30 seconds felt like a three minute ride on the worse roller coaster in the world. We slid for what felt like the length of a football field, with dust billowing up and the noise of metal and fiberglass and glass smashing against the earth.

When we came to a stop, finally, I had no idea which was was up. I tried opening my door, but couldn't (it was on the ground). I could see that the windshield was cracked but fully intact. I took off my seatbelt and stood up, realizing as I did, that I was standing on the door. Up was towards the front door...I reached up, finding Ruthanne in her seat above me, hanging down. I asked her, "are you ok?" and when she said yes, my heart leapt for joy, but I also had the fleeting thought, "how am I going to be a widower and raise a daughter?" I couldn't open the front door, so I turned towards the back of the bus, remember the rear door and the emergency windows, and I saw Daniel at my feet. I saw that he was looking around, sitting all crumbled on the floor, which had once been the side of the bus. He said, "I can't find my glasses" and I said, "Forget about your glasses, get out of the bus!" I didn't say it outloud, but I was terrified the bus would catch on fire at any second. I started kicking at the windshield, but couldn't smash it.

Then I was overwhelmed with a fear for the three in the back of the bus, and I tried to get back to them. I couldn't. The bathroom had shifted and the door had fallen down into the seat across from where Daniel had been sitting (facing backwards). I finally tore away a portion of the door and could stick my head and shoulders through. An 18 wheeler (I realized, after I climbed out) had stopped and was shining its lights into the wreckage, and I could see that the back of the bus was empty. No one was inside. Then I heard Abby and Joanna beginning to cry out "Where's everyone else, we're all alone, what are we going to do?" and so I turned back to the front and kicked at the window with all my might, smashing a hole about 4 feet wide (or tall, as we were on our side). I could hear a woman outside yelling to someone "I've called 911, they're sending ambulances" and a man helped Ruthanne out the window.

After I saw that Abby and Joanna were being comforted by a woman at the side of the road, and that a truck was blocking traffic so that we were not in danger of being struck by another vehicle, and that Daniel and Ruthanne were making their way over to the girls, I turned and saw a man kneeling by a body in the debris field...wreckage was everywhere, and Debbie was lying there in the stubbly grass, about 20 feet from the bus (20 feet back towards where we had first left the road) and less than 20 feet from the roadway. She was moving slightly, and I saw her eyes were open, but her head was covered in blood and she was saying over and over "my head hurts so bad...how are the kids? My head hurts so bad...are the kids alright." The man was amazing...he knelt by Debbie's side for over a half hour, keeping her from moving, assuring her that help was coming, and keeping other people from moving her. He probably saved her life, or at least her ability to move from her neck down. One of two ladies who had been with the man in the U-haul they were in (one the man's wife, the other his sister-in-law) were with our kids, saying over and over, "I'm certified in CPR. If your mom was dying, I'd be over there, working on her, and I'd have to work on her until a paramedic came, but I'm not working on her, so your mom is not dying. She's going to be alright." This comforted Abby, especially, who had started to fall apart right after finding out we were all out of the wreck. All of the kids were incredible!!! Calming down, taking advice from those who were helping, and trusting that they were going to be ok. I have never been more proud of my family or more convinced of God's providence than I am now.