Do You Believe in Birdies?
A true story that occurred in 1994,
as told by Mr. Lloyd Glen.
"Throughout our lives we are blessed with spiritual
experiences, some of which are very sacred and confidential,
and others, although sacred, are meant to be shared."
"Last summer my family had a spiritual experience that had a
lasting
and profound impact on us, one we feel must be
shared."
"It's a message of God's love. It's
a message of regaining
perspective, and restoring proper balance and renewing
priorities - in humility."
"I pray that I might, in relating this story, give you a gift my
little son, Brian, gave our family one summer day in 1994."
Here's what happened...
On July 22nd I was in route to Washington, D.C. for a
business trip.
It was all so very ordinary, until we landed in Denver for a plane change.
As I collected my belongings from the overhead bin, an
announcement was made for Mr. Lloyd Glenn to see the United
Customer Service Representative immediately. I thought
nothing of it until I reached the door to leave the plane and I
heard a gentleman asking every male if they were Mr. Glenn.
At this point I knew something was wrong and my heart sunk.
When I got off the plane a solemn-faced young man came
toward me and said, "Mr.
Glenn there is an emergency at
your home. I do not know what
the emergency is, or who is
involved, but I will take you to the phone so you can call the
hospital. My heart was now
pounding, but the will to be
calm took over.
Woodenly, I followed this stranger to the distant telephone
where I Called the number he gave me for the Mission
Hospital. My call was put
through to the trauma center
where I learned that my three-year-old son had been
trapped underneath the automatic garage door for several
minutes, and that when my wife had found him he was dead.
CPR had been performed by a neighbor, who is a doctor, and
the paramedics had continued the treatment as Brian was
transported to the hospital.
By the time of my call, Brian was revived and they believed
he would live, but they did not know how much damage
had been done to his
brain, nor to his heart.
They explained that the door had completely closed on his
little sternum right over his heart.
He had been severely crushed.
After speaking with the medical staff, my wife sounded
worried but not hysterical, and I took comfort in her calmness.
The return flight seemed to last forever, but finally I arrived
at the hospital six hours after the garage door had come
down. When I walked into the
intensive care unit, nothing
could have prepared me to see my little son laying so still on a
great big bed with tubes and monitors everywhere.
He was on a respirator. I
glanced at my wife who stood and
tried to give me a reassuring smile.
It all seemed like a
terrible dream. I was filled
in with the details and given a
guarded prognosis. Brian was
going to live, and the
preliminary tests indicated that his heart was OK--
Two
miracles, in and of themselves! But
only time would tell if his
brain received any damage.
Throughout the seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm.
She felt that Brian would eventually be all right.
I hung on
to her words and faith like a lifeline.
All that night and the next day Brian remained unconscious.
It seemed Like forever since I had left for my business trip
the day before.
Finally at two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained
consciousness and sat up uttering the most beautiful words I
have ever heard spoken, He said, "Daddy hold me," and he
reached for me with his little arms.
[Tear break...smile]
By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological
or physical deficits, and the story of his miraculous survival
spread throughout the hospital. You
cannot imagine our
gratitude and joy.
As we took Brian home we felt a unique reverence for the life
and Love of our Heavenly Father that comes to those who
brush death so closely. In the days that followed there
seemed a special presence of the Holy Spirit about our home.
Our two older children were much closer to their little
brother.
My wife and I were much closer to each other, and all of us
were very close as a whole family. Life
took on a less
stressful pace. Perspective
seemed to be more focused, and
balance much easier to gain and maintain. We felt deeply
blessed. Our gratitude was
truly profound.
The story is not over -- smile]
Almost a month later to the day of the accident, Brian awoke
from his afternoon nap and said, "Sit down mommy.
I have
something to tell you."
At this time in his life, Brian usually spoke in small phrases,
so to say a large sentence surprised my wife. She sat down
with him on his bed and he began his sacred and remarkable
story.
"Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door?
Well, it was so heavy and it hurt really bad. I called to you,
but you couldn't hear me. I
started to cry, but then it hurt
too bad.
And then the "birdies" came "The birdies?" my wife
asked
puzzled. "Yes," he
replied. "The birdies"
made a whooshing
sound and flew into the garage. They
took care of me."
"They did?" "Yes, he said." "One of the birdies" came and got you.
She came to tell you I got stuck under the door."
A sweet reverent feeling filled the room. The Holy Spirit's
presence seemed so strong, and yet lighter than air.
My wife realized that a three-year-old had no concept of
death and spirits, so he was referring to the beings who came
to him from beyond as "birdies" because they were up in the
air like birds that fly.
"What did the birdies look like?" she asked.
Brian answered. "They
were so beautiful. They were
dressed in white, all white. Some
of them had green and
white. But some of them had
on just white."
"Did they say anything?"
"Yes," he answered.
They told me the baby would be all right."
"The baby?" my wife asked confused.
And Brian answered. "The baby laying on the garage floor."
He went
on, "You came out and opened the garage door and
ran to the baby. You told the
baby to stay and not leave."
My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, for she had
indeed gone and knelt beside Brian's body and seeing his
crushed chest and unrecognizable features, knowing he was
already dead, she looked up around her and whispered, "Don't
leave us Brian, please stay if you can.
As she listened to Brian telling her the words she had spoken,
she realized that his spirit had left his body and was looking
down from above on this little lifeless form.
"Then what happened?" she asked.
"We went on a trip," he said, "far, far away."
He grew
agitated trying to say the things he didn't seem to have the
words for. My wife tried to
calm and comfort him, and let
him know it would be okay.
He struggled with wanting to tell something that obviously was
very important to him, but finding the words was difficult.
"We flew so fast up in the air." "They're so pretty Mommy,"
he added. "And there is
lots and lots of "birdies".
My wife was stunned. Into her
mind the sweet, comforting
Spirit of God enveloped her more soundly, but with an urgency
she had never before known.
Brian went on to tell her that the 'birdies' had told him that
he had to come back and tell everyone about the "birdies".
He said they brought him back to the house and that a big
fire truck, and an ambulance were there.
A man was bringing
the baby out on a white bed and he tried to tell the man the
baby would be okay, but the man couldn't hear him.
He said, "The Birdies told him he had to go with the
ambulance, but they would be near him.
He said, they were
so pretty and so peaceful, and he didn't want to come back.
And then the bright light came. He
said that the light was
so bright and so warm, and he loved the bright light so much.
Someone was in the bright light and put their arms around
him, and told him, "I love you but you have to go back. You
have to play baseball, and tell everyone about the birdies."
Then the Person in the bright light kissed him and waved bye-bye.
"Then whoosh, the big sound came and they went into the
clouds."
The story went on for an hour.
He taught us that "birdies" were always with us, but we don't
see them because we look with our eyes and we don't hear
them because we listen with our ears.
But they are always there, you can only see them in here
(he put his hand over his heart).
They whisper the things to help us to do what is right
because they love us so much. Brian
continued, stating, "I
have a plan, Mommy. You have
a plan. Daddy has a plan.
Everyone has a plan. We must
all live our plan and keep our
promises. The "birdies
help us to do that cause they love us
so much."
In the weeks that followed, he often came to us and told all,
or part of it again and again.
Always the story remained the same. The
details were never
changed or out of order. A
few times he added further bits
of information and clarified the message he had already
delivered. It never ceased to
amaze us how he could tell
such detail and speak beyond his ability when he spoke of his
"birdies."
Everywhere he went, he told strangers about the "birdies".
Surprisingly, no one ever looked at him strangely when he did
this. Rather, they always get
a softened look on their face
and smiled.
Needless to say, we have not been the same ever since that
day, and I pray we never will be.
May God bless you with the love of Christ and the presence
of His Spirit!
Submitted by:
Michele Hedberg, Assistant Director
EagleCrest Commons
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