Another Special Life in Christ

These testimony lives are not stories of "role models". Jesus is the role model!
These are lives wonderfully touched & changed by Jesus!

John William McCoy, Jr.:

Born in about 1944 in Sumter, S. C., John & I grew up in Trinity Methodist Church. We attended & graduated the public schools (Edmunds High School class of 1962), and graduated in the class of 1966 at the Citadel (John. an Electrical Engineering major)...several of us Sumter classmates were in that Citadel class. As with me, we were baptized, confirmed as teenagers, and went our ways in life.

John married Carolyn Stokes, our high school classmate (EHS class of 1962); they have two daughters. About 1995, John dodged one significant health "bullet"; and, a few years later, their home burned. Their faith held them strongly. The next event, like a bolt out of the blue, happened without any prior warning at all. And they credit the successful outcome of a health crisis (apparently destined to happen) to the guiding intervention of God. Here is John's recollection through an e-mail to me, Nov. 2005:

"Ervin,

I'll try and give you the story of my adventure/incident without being too long. I have two buddies (Jim Culp & Terry Greenfield) that I served with in the National Guard that also love to ride motorcycles. We have been trying for almost a year to schedule a ride together to the NC mountains and September 16 - 18 fit everyone's schedule.

I left Sumter Friday, the 16th heading to Anderson to meet the other guys and decided not to go by the interstate but go cross country through Saluda, Greenwood, etc. It was a hot day so I stopped at a country store to get something to drink, and a guy on a bike similar to mine saw me and pulled in on impulse just to see where I was going. After talking for a few minutes I told him of our plans to go to Maggie Valley and from there on to the western portion of the NC mountains. He mentioned at that time there was a big motorcycle rally in Maggie Valley starting that weekend, and we might want to think about going to the mountains of GA instead. We rode together for about an hour and then parted ways.

The next morning I met with Jim & Terry over breakfast, and we decided at that time to change our plans and go to the GA mountains instead of NC. We rode all day Saturday and ended up in Dahlonega, GA. The next day, Sunday, we met for breakfast and planned the route home. We all went back to our rooms to brush our teeth and get our stuff to leave. While back at the room I had a brain aneurysm that suddenly ruptured, and I passed out. No warning, headaches or anything. When I didn't show up, my buddies came looking for me and aroused me by beating on the door. When I let them in they took one look at me and decided something major was wrong and called 911. However, by the time EMS got there all my vital signs had gone back to normal and they [EMS] thought maybe I had just fainted. But Jim & Terry knew it was something more than that and insisted that I be taken to the hospital.

At the hospital they did a CAT Scan and discovered the aneurysm and immediately sent me to Gainesville, GA (22 miles away) which specializes in neurosurgery. I was operated on Wednesday (21st) for the aneurysm after they got everything settled down. I spent 3 weeks in the hospital in Gainesville and have been home since recuperating and getting my strength back.

There were several miracles that took place to get me to this point. I consider the guy who stopped on impulse to speak to me on Friday as an angel of the Lord, because otherwise we would have been in the mountains of western NC on Sunday morning a long way from the type of medical facility I needed. I was also blessed to have 2 friends with me who knew something was wrong and had the courage to say 'NO' when the easy way out would have been to let me lie down until I felt better [or obediently followed the EMS advice]. If they had done that, I would have lapsed into a coma shortly after that and probably not recovered. The other miracle is, I not only survived the aneurysm, I also don't seem to have any long term effects.

Carolyn and the rest of my family are the ones who really went through the rough stuff because for 2.5 weeks they kept me sedated to the point I really didn't know much except I was in the hospital. Her story really brings out the love and support we received from our church, friends, family, strangers & staff in the hospital and the peace she felt from God's love.

John & Carolyn McCoy"

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On 28 July 2012 (7 years later), we graduates of the old Edmunds High School class of 1962 celebrated our 50th anniversary high school reunion. John is without any residua of the event & "in excellent shape"! As of 2015, he and Carolyn are traveling a lot and enjoying God's creation. CHECK THIS other timing miracle and THIS other one, too.

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(posted 28 November 2005; updated 21 December 2017)

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You have just read a very brief example of the powerful, supernatural, miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit in a person's life which is possible through the acceptance of Jesus as your savior. Are you tired of life as it now is for you? He will accept you just as you are right this second! Consider accepting Jesus now [check it out]!