After 9/11, I remember hearing so many stories of people who were running late to work and missed being caught in the inferno in the Twin Towers. Their stories were miracles. My own brother had recently started a new job, leaving his old position in the Twin Towers. That move saved his life. I also have stories of Heaven intervening in my life to save me from disaster. God is actively involved in our lives. And today I want to share three stories of miracles that span four generations in the same family.
Arthur Condie- 1922
Our first story is from 1922 and is about Arthur Condie’s miracles. Arthur decided to go hunting with his friends; he was 17. He lived in Springville, Utah. Even though his mother told him not to go hunting on Sunday, he chose to go anyway. While hunting, he was shot with a very powerful high-caliber rifle. The bullet entered through the back of his shoulder and exited just below his heart. The path of the bullet was directly in line with his heart, and a piece of the bullet lodged in his heart; he carried it with him until his death.
He said he had been shot while he was climbing over a fence. And claimed it was his fault…but the entry and exit wounds proved he was shot from behind. He never said which of his friends it was who accidentally shot him. They were up in the canyon when it happened, and had to hike down to a road, carrying Arthur with them. When a car came by on the bumpy dirt road, they took Arthur home to his mother. The doctor was called…but this was before antibiotics, x-rays, etc. If he was going to survive, he would need many miracles.
The Power of A Priesthood Blessing
The doctor came to the house, washed out and cleaned the large wound, removed damaged flesh from the exit wound, partially stitched it to allow it to drain, and that was it. That was all they could do for Arthur. Priesthood blessings were given, and that poor 17-year-old boy was left there, unconscious, for days. He bled through the bedding and mattress, and blood dripped into pans left under the bed.
Arthur said the first thing he remembered was his little sisters (ages 3-5 years old) standing in his room, and they asked others in the room, “Is he dead yet?” His next memory was of his sisters, then coming back when no one else was around. They laid their hands on his head and asked Heavenly Father to heal him, just as they had observed older men, Priesthood holders, administering to their big brother. Arthur then opened his eyes, spoke to his sisters, and thereafter made a full recovery.
With no antibiotics or modern medical care, that is truly a remarkable story. But a similar miracle followed Arthur’s son Rulon Condie in 1962.
Rulon Condie- 1962
In December 1962, when Rulon was 17, his car was hit by a Semitruck when the brakes failed. He had been Christmas shopping with a friend in Provo. He was ejected from the car and flew from the road onto the steps of a church.
The impact broke his skull into eight separate pieces. A piece of his cheekbone was ripped from under his eye, his jaw was broken in multiple places, and his top six teeth and four or five of his bottom teeth were knocked out. The lacerations across his head and face required more than a hundred stitches. He was semi-conscious, writhing in pain and clawing at his face when a doctor who had seen the accident rushed to him, held him, and kept him from injuring himself further.
He was taken to the hospital, where they assessed his injuries as so severe that he would not live. The x-rays revealed injuries so severe that they were convinced there was nothing they could do. They actually prepared a toe tag, covered him with a sheet, and waited for him to stop moving so they could add the time of death.
After a while, a nurse who had been stationed outside his door could no longer stand hearing the faint groans and told the doctors that he was still alive and that they needed to do something. When Rulon’s parents arrived at the hospital, they were told that he would likely pass away, and even if he did live, he would be severely brain-damaged.
The Priesthood Prevails Again
He was given a priesthood blessing. Miraculously, he did not die…but his head swelled up bigger than a basketball, as his skull was in pieces…blood and spinal fluid drained from his eyes and his ears. He was so disfigured that when relatives and lifelong friends came to visit, they exited the room to ask for directions to the appropriate room, and told the staff that the person in the bed could not be Rulon.
As “luck” would have it, there happened to be a doctor visiting Salt Lake from a hospital back east who had been doing some pioneering work with plastic surgery. A doctor at the local hospital had heard of his visit and asked if he could come evaluate Rulon. Long story short, that visiting pioneering plastic surgeon fashioned and implanted a large piece of “plastic” under Rulon’s eye to hold the remaining pieces of the orbital bone in place, and replace the large piece of missing cheekbone.
He spent a couple of months in the hospital, but miraculously, he proved every doctor wrong and eventually fully recovered. He went on to finish high school, serve a mission, attend BYU, get married, finish college, and attend dental school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
David Condie- 1986
Our final story is about Rulon’s son, David. When David was in high school, their family took a trip to southern Utah to camp and four-wheel. They had a large farm-style 4-wheeler, but his dad rented a smaller, faster, “racing” type 4-wheeler. They had been riding around all weekend, and David LOVED riding on the racing 4-wheeler. Like most teenage boys, he drove it like a crazy person. No helmet. No protective gear. Two helmets were brought on the trip, but only the younger brothers and sisters wore them while riding.
One helmet was an old pilot helmet…white, large, cumbersome, with a visor that could come down over the eyes. David went out for a ride on the racing 4-wheeler, got about 75 yards from camp…and felt the prompting to return and put on a helmet. He remembers not knowing why, or even thinking about it. He put on that goofy-looking, weird-shaped helmet and then raced off again.
A Spiritual Prompting Saves His Life
A short time later, he was going around a curve at about 45 miles per hour. He was on the side of a cliff when the front right tire popped from its bead. It sent the rim down into the dirt, and both David and the machine were launched off the side of the cliff and down into a creek bed below. David hit first, and the 4-wheeler landed on him.
The initial impact was the foot peg of the 4-wheeler on the back of David’s head. The impact split the helmet and ripped it violently from his head. Had he not been wearing that helmet, it would have most certainly killed him. Miraculously, David walked away from the accident without any injuries. And he credits the Spirit’s promptings that protected his life, and a whole host of angels who had to work to protect him from himself.
Many years later, David’s son, Max, was also spared from disaster by the Lord’s miracles. But his story is long enough; he has his own article here.
Four generations of Condie men can thank their Heavenly Father for miracles that saved their lives. God is involved in our lives, protects us, and guides us. These stories are concrete examples and lift my faith, so I wanted to share them with you. Do you have similar stories? I would love to hear them. As we share these uplifting stories, we encourage each other to keep looking to God for His goodness and love.
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