‘Thank you for praying … from wherever you are’
MT. JULIET, TENN. — Ezekiel Evans hadn’t even broken in the new sled he described as “one of those rubbery ones” when it disappeared with him beneath the wheels of a Jeep on a wintry Saturday.
Ezekiel Evans
“It’s blue, yellow and orange!” the blond-haired 5-year-old said, describing the sled, not the Jeep.
Ezekiel spent the first day of Nashville’s big snowstorm playing with his friends.
“The second day I had the accident,” the twinkly eyed kindergartner explained without hesitation.
Ezekiel, age 5, is the son of Craig and Briana Evans. Craig serves as preaching minister for the Mt. Juliet Church of Christ in suburban Nashville.
The minister posted about the accident on his Facebook page the evening after it happened and quickly received more than 1,000 responses.
“Terrified, Desperate, Anger, Crying, Pleading, Praying, Blessed, Joyful, Praising, and Thankful are some of the words to describe our day,” the post began.
‘It ran over my legs where my boots were’
Ezekiel and a few friends were playing in the snow, sledding down a neighbor’s hill into the dead-end street where neighborhood children often gathered. His mom was watching when a Jeep ran over him and sent Zekie, as his family calls him, and his sled rolling out into the street.
“I was sledding, and it ran over my legs where the boots were,” he recalled.
“It looks like he went between the two passenger tires, and his sled and boots were run over by the driver’s side rear tire.”
“It looks like he went between the two passenger tires, and his sled and boots were run over by the driver’s side rear tire,” Craig explained.
A nurse who lived in the neighborhood rushed to the scene, immobilized him and kept him calm while talking with 911 personnel. Friends covered him with their coats to keep him warm and prevent him from going into shock. EMTs arrived and took Ezekiel and his mom to the Vanderbilt Trauma Center. And everyone prayed.
Ezekiel Evans with his parents, Craig and Briana.
While the afternoon was a parents’ nightmare, Ezekiel describes it all as a grand adventure. He loved getting to watch “Captain Underpants” from his ER bed. His Sunday school teacher came to visit, but he was not happy that ER personnel had to cut off his snowsuit and his favorite train pajamas he was wearing beneath it. And he was disappointed that his friends couldn’t come in to see him.
Aside from some bumps and abrasions, the exams and scans revealed no injuries that would require him to spend a night in the hospital. But Ezekiel loved the CT-scan that required him to lie in a “cool doughnut that kept changing colors.”
“I was laying down thinking, ‘Wow, this is so amazing!’” And then he laughed. He laughs a lot.
‘Ezekiel is doing awesome. He’s having a blast’
Ten days after the accident, Craig posted again on his Facebook page and included a video with Ezekiel, who wanted to know where all those people lived who had been praying for him.
“Thank you for praying for me from wherever you are,” Ezekiel said between giggles. “I would love to know the state you are in and if you’re from a different country.”
@christianchronicle
Ezekiel Evans thanks more than 700 Facebook friends who prayed for him after he was run over by a vehicle during a Nashville snow storm. After a brief hospital stay, the 5-year-old son of Mt. Juliet Church of Christ minister Craig Evans went home with only minor injuries. #prayer
♬ original sound – The Christian Chronicle
Craig asked viewers to respond below the post with their city and state and country if it was outside the U.S., “and let us know all the different places where you prayed for us.”
“Ezekiel is doing awesome,” Craig told them. “He’s having a blast. And our family is so thankful for your prayers for us.”
More than 700 responded from 28 states and 12 foreign countries, including every continent but Antarctica. From big places like Dallas, Chicago and St. Louis and from communities like Sweet Lips, Buck Snort and Possum Trot, Tenn. And one who claimed to be “in a pineapple under Calvert City,” a SpongeBob reference.
Friends in Fiji, Northern Ireland, Australia and Brazil chimed in. Tennessee had the most posts, naturally.
Ezekiel Evans left his class with teacher Marcella Gallione to tell the Chronicle his story.
A few weeks later, Ezekiel agreed to leave his math lesson in Miss Gallione’s class at Rutland Elementary School to talk to The Christian Chronicle. He told the story of the accident again — the one he’d now told many times to Facebook friends and real ones. He talked about school — recess is his favorite. He talked about sledding and wanting to go back to the hill after he got home from the hospital.
And he laughed. A lot.
CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact [email protected].
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