“Negative Sir, I don’t need a light, I can see. Captain, you said Chado was talking to God?”
“Roger that.”
“Well I believe God is down here right now.”
“Come back Nate, what are you talking about?”
“Captain, you know the phosphorus that the jet sled stirs up out of the mud of the Gulf floor?”
“You bet; it’s usually scattered all over the place! ”
“Well, Captain it’s not scattered, it’s all in one place.”
“Come back Nate, did you say it’s in one place? Didn’t you say you had moderate current?”
“Roger Captain, I don’t see how this is possible.”
“Okay Nate, just let me know what you’re seeing.”
“Captain, I’m looking at a mass of what looks to be, millions of glowing particles that seem to be hovering in one place. Oh, Captain?”
“Yeah, go ahead Nate.”
“His dive line is leading me right to the glowing ball of phosphorus.”
“Hey bud, nobody here in the dive shack has ever seen or heard of anything like you’re describing. Proceed with caution.”
“Roger that. Hey, I found him Sir! I found him! He’s lying flat on the bottom with these glowing particles all around him. This is freaky… Hey Captain; it doesn’t look good. Y’all get ready on the pneumo.”
“Roger, we are standing by on pneumo.”
“I can see his face, his helmet’s full of seawater. I’m sticking the pneumo underneath his neck dam now.”
“Roger that, we’re ready.”
“Shoot the pneumo! Send it Captain, send it! Ok I’m getting air Sir, it’s working. It’s pushing out the water, almost there.”
“Roger Nate, hook on to his harness.”
“Yes Sir, hooking up. Okay, I’ve got it.”
“Okay Nate it looks like the tenders have all the slack out; you should feel a tug at any second.”
“I’m ready Captain Lee. Y’all pull like hell!”
The captain announces over the barge intercom, “Pull them up.” He immediately turns and instructs two divers standing near the shack, “You guys get both chambers ready for emergency decompression. Blow the inner chambers down another 80 feet and be ready to get Chado and Nate down to emergency depth at 160. Let’s go boys, make it happen.”
“You got it Captain, we’re on it!”
“Boys at the rate we’re bringing them up, they’ll have an arterial embolism if we’re not careful. Let’s don’t screw it up!”
“Yes Sir.”
“Come in Nate.”
“Go ahead Captain.”
“Hold on, we’ve got several people pulling y’all up and it’s going to be one hell of a ride. Nate?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Blow out, try to keep your lungs as empty as possible.”
“Captain they’re dragging us along the bottom, hope we don’t hit the sled.”
“Roger Nate, you should miss it; the tenders are pulling y’all to the east side of the barge so the crane can reach you with the personnel basket.”
“Okay, we just left the bottom, we are coming up. God let us survive this.”
“What was that Nate?”
“Oh, nothing sir, just saying a little prayer.”
“Yes, we could use God about right now.”
“Okay Captain, looks like we are clear of the jet sled.”
The barge intercom blasts off again, “Bring them up! Let’s go! Let’s go!” The old man that operated the crane was still in his pajamas. He had gotten up because he knew his skills were needed; he had been down this road in past emergencies.
The old operator immediately fired up the diesel engine, causing black smoke to drift across the deck. He raised the boom of the crane up and over, dropping the headache ball directly over the personnel basket with exact precision. Captain Lee continued to direct the men on deck, shouting at a couple riggers, “Hey you guys! Hook that personnel basket up to the crane! Hurry up!”
“Nate, is he responding?”
“Negative Captain, he’s pale Sir.”
“Roger, keep forcing air in his helmet.”
“Will do Captain.”
* * *
They explode out of the water like a great white coming up after a seal. Two standby divers, already in the water, help roll Nate and Chado into the basket. The crane operator, not even waiting for a signal, starts picking them up and swinging the boom at the same time. With the crane operator moving so quickly, it causes the basket to start twisting and twirling around, almost out of control as he swings them over the deck. Several riggers tackle the basket to bring it back under control, and finally the crane operator gently sets the basket down right next to where the EMT’s have a stretcher waiting.
Captain Lee starts yelling. “Go, go, go! Get them to the chamber before they have an embolism!”
As soon as Nate stands up and gets out of the personnel basket he collapses. A huge 6’4” tender immediately picks up Nate and starts heading for the chamber. Nate had already taken his helmet off but still had his dive lines attached to his harness. This big tender was dragging his helmet and hoses as he was attempting to get Nate to the chamber when he falls, because the dive line is snagged on a pipe roller. Someone quickly unhooks his harness, tosses it to the side and the same guy arms him back up and continues on to the chamber .
Matt and Lee watch from a short distance away when a diver takes Chado's helmet and neck dam off. He steps back a couple feet when the EMT’s immediately start working on Chado Cole. Another diver steps back in and unhooks his weight belt and harness, while a greenhorn tender is trying to get his boots off. An EMT lady with a stern voice tells them both, “Get back! Don’t worry about his boots.” As she is pulling out a blade of some sort, ripping open his wet suit.
They have a defibrillator unit charged and ready, “CLEAR!” Bang! They hit him several times and in between each charge they are doing CPR.
This is all taking place as they are walking beside his stretcher on the way to a secondary decompression chamber only a short distance across the deck.
All of a sudden, the EMTs look at each other. One of the ladies shakes her head and turns to the guys carrying the stretcher. “Hey guys, stop, set him down.”
Someone in the crowd mumbles under his breath, “He’s gone.”
Matt stutters, “That’s it. It’s over.”
Lee looks over at Matt and sees tears running down his cheeks. He reaches out with a rough calloused hand and gently places it on the side of Matt’s face. With a soft voice, “Hey bud, I know y’all were like brothers. We all loved Chado. How could you not?”
Matt turns his head and looks down, and Lee continues speaking softly. “Let me tell you this, you can’t live blaming yourself. We were all to blame. We shouldn’t have allowed anyone to be in the water with all the crap that was screwed up on this project to begin with.”
“Captain, if I had just paid more attention to the pressure.”
“Matt, I said don’t you go there.”
With a few moments of silence both Matt and Lee now staring out across the Gulf of Mexico, Lee breaks the silence with a prayer: “ God, we hope Chado Cole didn’t suffer too much when you took him and we pray he’s in a better place now, Amen.”
Both Matt and Lee turn at the same time and watch as an EMT tucks one of his arms underneath the sheet while slowly covering his head.
Captain Lee with his voice quivering, “Hey bud, you want to know something?”
“Sure Captain.”
“There is something I came to know about Chado. He loved God and didn’t mind telling you about it. He’s with God right now as we speak. He’s seeing stuff we could only imagine. Chado talked about a daughter he lost several years back. I guarantee it won’t take him long until he gets to see her. The Bible says that God numbers our days. This is just the day Chado Cole went home.”
“Captain, you know Chado would talk about things in
the Bible sometimes and compare stories in the Bible with things that would happen in our own lives. It was pretty interesting, but I never believed any of it. I believe he knew I didn’t think any of it was real, but you know, he would always still talk about it and tell me, “Little buddy, you might want to get you a relationship with Jesus. The clock is ticking.”
“I would laugh and then change the subject, and he would give me that funny look of his, and then grin from ear to ear. I guess, thinking back, he was just letting me know he cared. I wish he was standing here right now telling me one of his Bible stories.”
“Roger that bud, Roger that. Matt, you know I believe in God too. I know, I know, I might drop a few curse words every now and then and I wasn’t as open with my beliefs as Chado Cole, but when I’m home me and my wife go to church on Sunday. You know, it might be time to be a bit more open with my walk with God. This whole big screw up tonight makes you think… that could have been me. ”
“Captain Lee you’re killing me. I don’t really want to talk about walks with God and dying.”
“Okay, ok Matt. I understand. Oh, by the way, the company has some kind of counseling program for this kind of event, if you think it might do you some good.”
“Counseling… I don’t need some pinhead telling me about my inner thoughts. I appreciate it Cap, but when I hit the shore after this hitch, I’ve been saving for a brand spanking new Harley Davidson, and a good cold beer will be all the counseling I’ll need.”
“Okay Matt, just keep me in mind if you ever need to talk, and Matt, you know God is always there if you ever want to talk to Him.”
“Thanks Cap.”
8
It Wasn’t Divers At All
W hen I felt someone or something pulling on each arm, I opened my eyes to what had to be a dream. Yes, I’m sure this is a dream. I was seeing two small childlike Angels that had almost the same glow around them as the particles of phosphorus. Was this real?
They pull me up to a standing position and both let go of my arms. Suddenly, I realize I’m standing on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and I’m naked. Yep, this is a dream.
Then one of the Angels hands me what looks like my favorite pair of short pants with a T-shirt. The other one hands me a pair of sandals. Okay, at this point it’s time to wake up in my bunk on the barge and tell Matt about this crazy dream. Now I am embarrassed and feeling a bit vulnerable with the two Angels standing right in front of me… not to mention all the other people that might be standing around down here in 200 feet of water seeing me naked… well, maybe a few fish are watching.
So I humble myself, turn away from my new friends and get dressed in my new duds. And while I’m turned in the other direction, I see a light blinking on and off and then finally it’s out completely. Okay, I’ve got two childlike Angels standing behind me and someone else is walking around down here that’s doing Morse code with a light.
There has to be an explanation, because I can’t seem to remember anything past the last few seconds.
Whoever this is with the light is heading straight for me, maybe I can get some answers.
No way! I recognize this guy. He’s wearing a Miller dive hat covered in graffiti. I would recognize that helmet anywhere. That’s Nate. He looks like he’s headed straight for that lit up mass of phosphorus. Wait till I tell Nate he was in my dream.
I start heading over to where he is; I see him kneel down, what is that rascal up to ?
I feel both Angels grab my hands, I turn and look at the Angels and they are shaking their heads no.
“No? Wait a second; I want to see what Nate’s doing.”
I turn back around and I recognize another dive helmet, it’s mine…what’s going on? Hey that’s my wet suit . What the heck ? I pull away from the Angels and now I’m standing directly over Nate. About that time, his light comes back on, and I’m looking at a pale blue reflection of myself. Could this be me, is this really happening? I see Nate as he hooks to my harness and all of a sudden Nate and this lifeless corpse are being pulled away.
If that was me does this mean I’m a spirit, and I’m standing here dressed in shorts, T-shirt and sandals? And standing on the bottom of the ocean? Hmmm, okay, I guess it’s really happening.
I look over at the two Angels and they are grinning shaking their heads yeah.
“So, can you guys tell what I’m thinking? Wow, I heard y’all and your mouths didn’t move. Can I tell what y’all are thinking? No? Just when y’all want me to? Well that’s not fair.”
Both Angels start laughing with a contagious laugh and I can’t help myself, I start laughing too. I can’t believe I’m laughing and just saw what looked like a dead me being pulled off and up toward the surface. This is so crazy!
“So, what’s next?”
Each Angel takes one of my hands and starts pulling me upward at a pretty good clip. A short distance above us, I see a huge Angel with a wide wing spread and he’s traveling in the same direction we are.
Suddenly our upward ascent is stopped; something has grabbed my left ankle. The two small Angels are struggling because we are being pulled back down. Then this mighty Angel above us circles back around and starts to unsheathe his sword, revealing only a couple inches of it. The sword creates such a brilliant bright light, it looks like it lights up the whole bottom of the Gulf. I turn to see what has my ankle, and fear grips me when I see what looks like some kind of demon right out of the pit of hell. When the light from the Angel’s sword hits this demon, he lets go and with a flash he is gone.
Before the light faded from this mighty Angel’s sword, I could see everything. The jet sled, the pipeline and all sorts of fish. Could this be real? Could it be some fantastic dream with such detail, unlike any other dream I’ve ever had? This couldn’t be a dream. I can hear what the two small Angels are thinking. They are allowing me in their conversation of thoughts. Am I losing my mind? I can hear their thoughts. They were talking about that demon that grabbed my ankle. They were saying “he was a bad one, and that he had great authority and dark power, and they were glad Chado Cole’s Warrior Angel was with us.”
Wow, I have a Warrior Angel! I suddenly have a funny thought, well that’s always good to have a Warrior Angel along especially when you are being grabbed by a demon. I look over at the little Angel on my left and he’s laughing again, and I burst out laughing too.
I have a feeling of peace and protection with an overwhelming abundance of joy. We all three continue to laugh as the light of the Warrior Angel’s sword slowly fades, when he replaces it in its sheath.
Continuing upward, we suddenly break through the surface of the water. Our laughter stops as I can now see the lay barge with its bright lights and workers scrambling around on deck. I can even hear the loud speaker, with Captain Lee shouting, “Go, go, go! Get them up!”
All at once I could remember everything that happened. And this was, without a doubt, real. I had just died on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico…
At the same time, both Angels squeezed my hands slightly and smiled to let me know, “It’s okay. We are on our way to Heaven.”
9
The Spiritual Realm
I finally came to the point of accepting this unbelievable event and knowing I was truly on my way to Heaven. I started to wonder if we were about to go into hyper drive or maybe light speed or would I just blink my eyes and arrive at Heaven’s gate?
“ What’s next?” I look over at one of the Angels and I see a big grin and he shakes his head no.
Well, I’m thinking, Okay I’m just hitching a ride. You guys are in control. This is actually my first trip and I have no idea how to fly.
Both Angels are laughing again. I forgot they can hear my thoughts. Man this is so awesome! This is going to be a fun trip.
On this exodus from Earth I had always imagined shooting straight up with a flash of light or instantly vanishing, but this wasn’t the case. The two Angels were still holding my hands as we went up a few hundred
feet above the water and started heading north. Yes, north. I can tell because at this height, I can see the glow of the rising sun due east. Yes, I’m certain we are heading north. I can now see in the distance the lights of what looks like New Orleans.
At this point we seem to be slowing down and getting a bit lower as we get closer to the city. It’s like they want me to see something.
Out of nowhere, my Warrior Angel shows up and the sound of his mighty wings slowing him down to match the pace of the Angels transporting me, catches me off guard and startles me a bit. He’s right beside us, and this is the first time we’ve been this close. Wow, I can see his face as he looks over at me. He’s not smiling like the two small Angels have been; he’s got a stern, serious look on his face. I’m thinking, Is something wrong? He suddenly flies ahead of us just a few yards and then slows back down, maintaining our speed.
I can now see how big this Angel is, and the morning light peeping over the horizon makes his armor glisten. I can make out several different colors embedded in his armor and clothing. Oh my, that’s not just color, that’s sapphires and rubies and maybe even diamonds. This Angel must be something special in Heaven or has a high rank if there are ranks with Angels. Or are all Angels decked out like this one? My little Angels aren’t dressed like him, I’m sure he’s got to be special.
The outside of his wings looks like they are coated with steel, but they flex and move with the wind. He’s carrying a shield strapped to his back, along with a huge sword. His shield looks like it’s made out of some kind of odd looking metal. I can’t make out the engraving in the shield. It looks like some sort of symbols and there are several words written on the shield that look like an old or strange language. I’m wishing I knew what it all means. Maybe I can ask him someday if he ever gives me the chance.
As we slow down over the city of New Orleans, my little Angels are letting me know they want me to look at something. As we drop down a bit more, I start seeing dark images all over the place, and as we get closer to the ground I can make out what those images are. They are just like the very same thing that grabbed my leg when we were coming up out of the Gulf: Demons… They are everywhere, thousands of them. I suddenly notice our Warrior Angel is gone; where is he? I start looking all around and finally look up; he is hovering just a few feet over us. I think he got a kick out of me getting spooked when I thought he was gone, because he actually dropped the Marine Corps stare for a second and grinned slightly. That minor grin sure helped me, because what I was seeing was a scary sight.
Scars of My Guardian Angel Page 4