June 2007

How Much Can We Really Do?
Confessions of a “can-do” high tech wizard

Dum-De-Dum-Dum.^[1]

Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent. It’s a story about God’s hand on one common ordinary person.

I work in High Tech. I carry a laptop. My name’s Pete.

I grew up in California… and in rural upstate New York.^[2] I’ve lived in Colorado since the early 1990’s. One wife, two daughters, three computers and more pets buried than I can count.

To understand this story, you need to know about two parts of my life.

The first part relates to all those computers. “High Tech” is my background, my giftedness and skill—some might call it an anointing from the Lord.

A couple of years out of college, I was burdened by the sense that God wanted all of me, not just some volunteer time and some dollars in the Sunday offering bucket. So on the day our first daughter was born, and with my wife Leslie’s blessing, I quit my job. My goal was to earn time for God as a computer consultant in Silicon Valley.

God has greatly blessed that side of me. I’ve had the privilege of helping create many of the products that have shaped our world, from phones to computers, diabetes monitors to accounting software, maps to market research.

He also blessed me with a very clear high tech ministry. In the 1980’s He directed me to lead the computer work that resulted in the 10/40 Window model, and to coordinate the equivalent of “market analysis” of global mission. In the 1990’s, our team solved the problem of worldwide group email for leadership teams. And now I lead a small team that’s moving from helping people talk to helping people truly work together.

Bottom line: I’m a high tech entrepreneur, a problem solver, a concrete “can do” guy. I praise God for His amazing grace to give me gifts and skills to solve almost any problem.

Accident Site, Pretoria South Africa

Now let’s jump to the other side of who I am.

Simply put, I exist as a miracle of God’s healing, and it’s time to boldly declare His power to easily perform what scientists might call “low probability events.”

Ten years ago I became one of those people you’ve read about: dead, gone to heaven, miraculously restored to life by God. I’ve been cautious about making the story public because I know how bad the hype can get. But after a decade, it’s time to share this story of God’s signs and wonders. The signs point us to God, and He gives us something to wonder about!

By the way, if you’re skeptical as you read this, please remember that I’m a skeptic too, well trained in science and engineering. So let’s just review the facts.

June 27, 1997, I was in Pretoria, South Africa to speak about technology at a huge global missions conference. I finished a prep meeting, across a residential street from one of the conference churches. I looked both ways and then started across the street. Suddenly, I heard “LOOK OUT!!!” and that was the end.^[3]

[What happened next is not my own memory. Eyewitnesses filled this in afterward.]

A “bull bar” similar to what hit Pete

A speeding car had rounded a curve and come over the top of the nearby hill. The driver was going much too fast (50+ km/hr) and slammed into me head-on. The blow crushed my thigh; my head smashed his windshield. Flipping into the air, I somersaulted a couple of times at least 20 feet off the ground, and crashed head first into the ground about 50 feet away. I was completely still, broken and bloodied.

More traffic prevented the man I was with from crossing the street for a minute. Reaching me, he found I wasn’t breathing and had no pulse (“cardiac arrest”). The church pastor’s wife also came running; they prayed against an overwhelmingly powerful sense of cold and death surrounding my body. A few minutes later, a passing doctor stopped to help. She verified that I was clinically dead, and said there was no reason to try “CPR” nor to call an ambulance.^[6]

For at least four or five more minutes, the spiritual battle raged—Pete lying dead in a bloody heap, and two believers praying with all their might.

Suddenly, my eyes opened! “What happened???” I asked. The intercessors immediately knew that the battle had been won, and I would be OK. (For those who like to count, yes I was clinically dead for at least eight or nine, possibly ten or eleven minutes.)

I’m told it took 1½ hours for the ambulance to show up, and during the wait my companions talked with me about how to notify my family. Sadly, I have no recall of any of this—in fact, the people with me during the accident were upset later when I didn’t follow through on whatever it was we had discussed! Perhaps I was in severe shock? I don’t know.

Here’s what I do remember; and can never forget. Lying there in a broken crumpled heap, I felt a wonderful sense of being cared for by God. “Wow, I’m on my way to heaven!” I thought. “This is going to be soooo wonderful. What peace! What a wonderful place! And not only that, I’m going to get a new body, and God is simply taking care of everything. Aaahhhhh….”

And then everything changed. I was heading back to earth. And it hurt. Horribly. As I began to scream, God “spoke” two things into me:

One, “what are you whining about?”

Two, “you think it is wonderful in heaven? I Am With You just as much on earth!”

And just like that, I was relaxed and happy. Yes, while in excruciating pain, I was happy.

I felt such peace from the Lord. Then I woke up, and began the rest of my adventure of healing.

Speaking of which, let’s focus on healing now, since this is a story about God’s power.”^[4]

Broken femur, before/after surgery

At AD2000 meeting, one week after accident

Camping at Turquoise Lake w/o pain, July 24 1997

First, what did the doctors expect?^[5]

• More than 8-9 minutes of clinical death, outside a hospital, and no emergency treatment. You’re dead. At best, you’ll recover as a vegetable.

• Shattered femur (thigh bone). The most painful possible break. Two to three years of excruciating pain before recovery.

• Overall leg condition (lost more than five units of blood, I had no muscle left in my upper leg, and no feeling in several parts of my leg and foot.). Five to six weeks in the hospital, three months in a wheel chair, three more months on crutches. In half a year, you’ll begin to learn how to walk again.

• Head trauma resulting from high speed vehicle-pedestrian impact. Severe concussion and some brain damage expected. Long term memory loss.

Here’s what actually happened:

Home with Leslie

• For two weeks, I couldn’t ignore God’s healing touch on and in my body. (I’m told thousands were praying!)

• A CAT scan showed I had no concussion or brain damage. The doctors were so shocked, that they performed a second scan just to be sure!

• I was discharged in one week not a month, and attended the final meeting of the conference. And I returned home in time for my 18^th wedding anniversary.

• In three weeks, all pain was gone (not three years). I didn’t even need Tylenol!

• In less than a month I was done with my wheelchair (not three.) I went camping with my family!

WOW! Did I, or the doctors, accomplish any of that? No.

God healed me. God did it, and spoke peace and joy into my life along the way!

How did it change my life? All the skills are still there, but I have zero doubt where they come from and who empowers me to use them. I need to be where He wants, and do what He wants, no matter how hard.

My life journey is completely tied to God. I can’t measure my life by human success… My goal is to hear and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. Period.

“That’s fine for you Pete, but…” OK, you’re right. I have an “advantage.” Even so, I see something even more amazing every single day.

I’m surrounded by people who also know that God is with them, no matter what. My wife Leslie, my coworkers, our intercessors and more. They too walk in “hard” places. They too know the incredible joy of total dependence on God.

Come join us! You’ll only experience miracles when you are in a position to receive them!

So, that’s my story on this ten-year anniversary. I’d love to hear your story. How are you learning to totally depend on God, to follow Him no matter what?

[1] A hint

[2] God blessed me—burdened me might express it better—with many gifts and skills. Finishing high school in the 1970’s, I already had strong opinions: disgusted with how computers detract from real relationships, I determined to avoid computers for the rest of my life. (Really!) But I was fascinated by science and technology, and dreamed of making the next Six Million Dollar Man.

Neither dream came true: the expenses of college led me to begin a computer career the second half of my freshman year in college (even though I avoided computer-related classes.) And while I quickly absorbed my semiconductor “chip” classes, I bombed out on the pre-med side of things.

[3] Something that was a personal blessing to me: at the warning, I never really had time to react. Some assumed I looked the “wrong” way, because they drive on the “wrong” side of the street in South Africa. I don’t recall and it doesn’t matter. I did not even react. I’m told the car was going so fast, I could not possibly have jumped out of the way in time. So I have no horrible memory of being hit!

[4] Many other “unusual coincidences” could be shared from this one incident. Summarizing just a few:

• I was hit by the “perfect car” – rather than rolling over and crushing me, the “bull bar” broke bones and sent me flying.

• My accident was minutes from a just-built private hospital, specializing in bone surgery!
  (2019 Addition by Pete. I never shared the following until 2017, because I personally could not believe it! It was far more than what I shared here. Today in 2019, Pretoria East is (and for all these years has been) considered the very best hospital on the continent of Africa. I checked this myself in 2017: the only hospital in Africa with equipment and actively performing Davinci robotic surgery. So yes, not just nearby, but the best of the best!.)

• The insurance adjuster prayed for us, and arranged payment for my flight home (some call this the biggest miracle!)

[5] I’m no medical expert; I’m sharing what my care providers in South Africa and the US told me. I was treated by the best in the business, including the chief orthopedic surgeon for the U.S. Olympic team. He was not a believer but this sure made his jaw drop!)

(2019 Additional note for this paragraph.) I’m a stickler, so are my friends. Several have asked me to add up the time I was “gone.” To me this is not a big deal but I agree it is evidence. My understanding: (at least a min for first guy to cross)+(at least a min for pastor’s wife to arrive)+(at least 3 min for doctor to show up while they prayed)+(at least 4-5 min later I woke…. sense of people on the ground. (~1+)+(~1+)+(3+)+(4 or 5). Should be min 9-10, but let’s call in 8-9 minimum. And find more evidence

[6] (2019 Additional note) 20+ years later, we would question many things about a doctor who would not suggest CPR. Please remember, life was different back then worldwide. And Pretoria in particular was in turmoil.

There are some things you should know about our ICTA team, and about this blog. Someday we’ll take time to describe these in more detail, but right now we’d like to just list them as some of our initial assumptions:

• This is a safe place to grow together. Mistakes are forgiven, people change and develop their perspectives. Comments (and most blog posts) are not indexed for posterity in Google or Archive.org. That’s why you have to log in to comment, and RSS feeds are private.
• We have significant commercial high tech experience. The methods, tools, process of business today are familiar and “easy” for us. We do our best to avoid diving into complicated jargon. At the same time, sometimes a bit of vocabulary is important for a given topic.
• We appreciate and value a Bible-based spiritual perspective.
• We appreciate and value good science, good use of math, engineering, planning and more. (We believe our minds and skills are gifts of God.) Sometimes you might even see a bit of math here. 2 + 2 = 4 anyone?
• We pray. Not asking a God made in our image to fulfill our desires, but talking with and listening to the God who loves us and loves to hear our hearts.
• We hope you, like we, are not out to offend but find a path together. This is not about unity at the expense of truth. But since we’re all seekers, we probably have more in common than we think, as we journey together toward God who loves us all.
• In other venues, we might write “G-d” instead of “God” out of respect for the Jewish tradition of never writing or speaking the holy name of God. However, as this is our venue, we hope you will not be offended that we do speak God’s name. In fact, a uniqueness of Jesus is that he introduces us to God as intimate Father who loves us more than we can imagine.

What do you think? Does anything else need to be said up front?

I feel a bit awkward, inviting you on a hike with us. No, there’s nothing wrong with the hike itself. A great trip actually, not too hard, not too easy. And there’s a lot of beauty to see along the way. One of the benefits of hiking trails is they can take you to places your car or even a mountain bike can never go.

And the company is good too. Great people, real life stories, nuggets to share that can help make sense of life, the universe and everything (to use a Douglas Adams phrase.) I’m hoping you’ll join in so we can hear your story too.

So why am I feeling awkward about inviting you?

Because I’m not the one leading this little adventure. Nor are any of the others in our group. And our guide has some unusual quirks. I’m torn between promoting how great this is gonna be, and honestly telling you our guide is hoping this adventure will require the rest of your life. How do I tell you the both-and bit? This will be the best, most amazing experience of your life and at the same time it will cost you more than you can imagine.

It’s like my South African adventure. On the one hand, it was the best thing that ever happened to me: I saw and experienced real miracles of healing that took the power of modern medical science and went way beyond what anyone could imagine. Wow. On the other hand, I only had that experience because I was walking across a street and was hit by a car going 50+mph and pronounced dead. Ouch. That’s a story for another day.

Oh yea. I was going to tell you why I want to walk and talk with you about “Spirit-Led Technology.”

Some of you might have just flinched again when I said “Technology.” Some might have flinched at seeing “Spirit-Led” in the same sentence as “Technology.” Please don’t stop now (even if you’re not a “tech” person.) I’ll explain.

Most people, when they hear “Technology,” assume this is a Geek / Not-Geek thing. I assure you, it is not. I don’t care if you count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on your fingers, or 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. I don’t care if “chips” are something you eat or solder, if “mice” are something your cat eats or you plug into your computer.

Our entire world has become almost completely technology-driven in the last 150 years. Sure, you probably know there’s a computer hiding in your microwave, watch, iPhone, car, and even your toilet if you live in Japan. And yes, your young neighbor kid (if you don’t have one at home) probably can’t remember a world without cell phones, or CD’s. But there’s more.

We live in a world driven by lists and quantitative measures. We work to the numbers, even if we’re artists and writers. It’s all about productivity, efficiency, competitive edge. Who has something morebetterfastercheaper than the next guy.

The tools, methods and basic ideas of information technology affect everything we do at work. They affect how we think about what’s good, bad or indifferent. They even affect how we think about other people and about God.

That’s why we’re confident that, even if you run screaming when you hear the “tech” word, there’s something for you here.

As for “Spirit-Led”… that’s what is going to make this such a fascinating journey for all of us. Life today is normally about being in control, about Getting Things Done (and about Value Propositions if you’re a real MBA geek.)

I like getting stuff done as much as the next guy. But we at ICTA have discovered an ancient truth that introduces a Big Idea: even our modern info/tech driven life is supposed to be about something far more wonderful than bullet point lists and spreadsheets. It’s supposed to be inspired by a love relationship. A real love relationship. One where you care so much about the other person that you’d do anything to avoid breaking their trust.

Have you ever met someone who is just incredible in their ability to express love? Perhaps they give the most perfect gifts, or they say something that turns night into day. Some are able to reach out and touch a hurting person with a hug, or they’ll just sit and be with you. One way or another, these are the people who really care and it’s not because they want something but rather that they have something to give. Through my life I’ve had the very great privilege of knowing a few people like that.

Just being with someone like that is incredibly satisfying. Fulfilling. All is well.

Did you ever imagine that’s what God is all about?

What if that’s what Technology is supposed to be about? Yup, Information Technology as an expression of God’s love, God’s character. Not just the message, the medium itself.

Technology not as the dry list-making, list-enforcing tool we’ve allowed it to become, but technology as a creative, life-giving, love-expressing, warm, honoring, pure, holy, selfless, inspiring, humble expression of God’s character, God’s love.

That’s more than a little different from anything I was ever taught, and anything I ever experienced until recently.

So, are you one who read this and is excited about getting to know more? Or are you one that sort of rolled your eyes at the ‘mushy’-relationship talk and have tons of questions and comments you’d like to share. Or perhaps you’re just plain curious…this is the world we’re exploring. Come join us in this incredible adventure.

There will be bits of activity as 2008 winds up; we need to do all we can to strengthen ICTA’s financial situation.

Hope you can join us here at the SLTy Inspirations center as we enter 2009, refreshed and ready to roll.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him…
–Lam 3:21-25