Editor’s note: The following is our first guest column by Russ Spading, owner of Cars ‘R’ uss Auto Body Paint and Repair, Inc. and the Belle Plaine fire chief. It is an incredible first person account of an experience he had earlier this month.

by Russ Spading

My annual adventures at Lake Pepin began in 1983. Lake Pepin is a beautiful lake and is also part of the Mississippi River. It is 1 ½ miles wide and 10-15 miles long surrounded by breathtaking bluffs. Camp Lacupolis is a small fishing camp that draws fishermen from far and wide. I have gone with my buddies every year except for a couple years I talked my wife into going with me. Fishing has always been great for the most part. Some years are better than others, but there is no doubt that you’ll catch fish. I have learned a lot about that lake over the years. The more years of experience you have on a lake, the more knowledge you have to share. The most rewarding thing about knowing the lake is being able to teach others.

Our trip this year started on Sunday, June 7th around 6:30 am. Four vehicles and four boats headed north to Minnesota. When we first arrived we launched our boats, moved into the house we rented, and headed right out fishing.

The weather was cool and rainy. Fishing was below average. We caught fish but not as large as we were looking for. The walleyes were below the length limit. We stayed out until nightfall.

Monday morning we got up bright and early. The weather that morning was cold and rainy. I had brought a raincoat but no rain pants. A friend of mine gave me a full rain suit (rubber coveralls) to wear. I had on my jeans, T-shirt, hoodie, and the coveralls. There were seven guys and four boats. I had just gotten a new flat-bottom boat the year prior and was bringing it to Lake Pepin for the first time. I decided that morning to take it out alone and head across the lake to do a little fishing. I had no luck fishing and the cold had set in.

I headed across to Pepin City, beached my boat, and walked in town to get a hot cappuccino and some cookies. On my way back to the boat I noticed the beauty of the lake and thought of my wife. I called her to tell her good morning. It was around 11 am. I told her I had gone out alone that morning, and I was enjoying my time alone. I told her the weather was cold and rainy and described the coveralls my friend let me borrow. They were working quite well to keep the water off of me. I told my wife that I loved her and missed her. I recall her telling me she loved and missed me too.

When I got to the water, two of my friends were docking their boat. We visited for awhile. They were going into town and I was coming out. I went back out fishing and caught my limit of walleyes. I headed back across the lake to clean the fish.

I had my boat ¾ throttle. I had done this a million times. The lake wasn’t very rough, so I was making my usual trip. I hit a set of waves going in a different direction and it changed the direction of my boat. The speed of which I was going and the new direction the boat was being pulled, it launched me from the boat on the opposite side. It seemed like I was almost in slow motion as I was traveling through the air. I looked back at Pepin City. I looked down the river to Lacupolis and directly to my right was Maple Springs. No boats around. I knew I was in trouble. I thought about being only 46 years old and this was it. I knew I didn’t have a life jacket on because it was left in the boat, and with all of the clothes I had on, I knew I was going to drown. I was not scared to die. I said to the Lord, here I come. I was confident I had a place in heaven, but still did not understand. I just wasn’t finished.

Being a good swimmer, I knew to arch my back and my neck and when I shot in the water I shot right back out. When I came up the head to my depth finder was right in front of me. I had knocked it off when I was thrown from the boat. I tried to tread water, but I was too heavy. I had to dog paddle. That was nearly impossible. I had enough power to keep myself above the water to be able to look around. I knew I was out there all alone. Because of the weather there were few boats.

The boat was making a circle at half throttle turning to the right. The boat was probably 30-40 feet away. The waves coming from the boat made it very hard to swim. The sound of the boat was horrendous and simply would not stop. I knew it was a bad choice, but I had to try to grab the boat because I could feel myself sinking and running out of energy. I knew I couldn’t grab the front of the boat because if I missed, it would run me over or hit my head. So I tried for the spot where I sat. I made an attempt and had to retreat because my timing was off. On my second attempt I swam back in and grabbed the boat somewhere near where the driver sits. I was so heavy with the clothing I couldn’t hold on. The boat pulled away. When it pulled away the back of the motor and the prop hit my legs. The prop ended up cutting the rubber coveralls I had on but did not cut my leg. I was disappointed. What a waste of energy. Then I was so close to the boat that the wake from the boat was just thrashing me. It was all I could do to swim away.

By the time I got away from the boat, I was so low in the water that only my nose was above the water. If I tried to yell or get a breath through my mouth, I would swallow water. That’s when I realized that I wanted to end this fight, so I took a deep breath and gave up; only to sink a couple feet below the surface and then bob back up. I just wanted to spend my last moments thinking about my life and that is when my mind seemed to split. At this point my body was fighting to stay alive on one screen and my life was flashing in front of me on another.

Things were really flashing through my mind. I remember saying to the Lord, this doesn’t make sense to me, but if it’s your will, it’s okay. I remember my life seemed to be flashing in front of me in fast forward. I knew I was blessed in so many ways. In some way I wasn’t ready to leave this world. I saw my family, my children, my friends and the fire department. I thought about the youth group. Then I saw my wife. That was soooo powerful; the love that we share.

Then I felt the presence of the Lord. I could see Him reaching out to me. He was golden or in bright sunlight. I saw myself naked. I was holding something. I had my head down, and I was ashamed. What I was holding represented sin in my life. The sin was lying about an addiction I had to chewing tobacco. In some ways I was proud that that was the only thing I had to be ashamed of. But I realized by looking at the Lord He didn’t want me to carry the guilt and burden of that addiction any longer. He wanted me to give it to Him. He wanted me to let it go. At first I thought He was reaching out for me. He was actually reaching out to take the sin from my life.

In February of this year, my wife had a friend who had a message from the Lord for me. He told her that there was going to be change coming up in my life. He said that I needed to let go of things that were causing me distractions. I wasn’t giving 100 percent on certain things in my life. I needed to get focused and tell my wife about it. She came home that weekend and told me about the conversation. It didn’t make sense to us at the time, but now we see what God was talking about. First of all, I am completely changed by what has happened, and there definitely will be change in my life from this point on. The guilt from the sin was keeping me from being able to give 100 percent of myself to anything. I was hiding something that I wasn’t proud of. It was a distraction at times, and I hadn’t told my wife about it like I should have. She was aware that I had been struggling with it for as long as we had been together, almost 18 years, but I didn’t rely on her when I was struggling like I should have. I never lied to her when she would ask me about it, but I wouldn’t be the one to bring it up. I was hiding it from her and everybody, and that was wrong. I believe that God has taken that sin away from my life for good.

While all of these things were going on, I tried to back float. It wouldn’t work. I could only back float just under the surface. I made an attempt on the zipper on my coat because I knew rescue swimming techniques. If I got the coveralls off, I was going to make a balloon out of them. I was so out of power. The zipper seemed to be stuck. By the time I got my zipper down to my waist, I was several feet under the surface. It was all I could do to get back to the surface to get a breath of air. When I came up I was hit by a wave, sucked in water, and realized that the reason I couldn’t back float was because my stomach was so full of water. So the next time I bobbed up, I regurgitated the water in my stomach. The next time I come up I cleared water from my lungs and my throat. I went down again and realized I could regurgitate the water while under the water.

The next time up there were no waves, and I got a deep breath of air. At that point, I seemed to be bobbing right at the surface with my head pitched clear back and just my mouth above the water, but I still felt like I was sinking. I remember just laying back and told the Lord that it was up to Him. I was done trying. I couldn’t try any longer. I either passed out or fell asleep, and I woke up. There was a good friend reaching out for me, but it wasn’t a friend that was with me on this trip. We will name this friend “My Hero.”

My Hero and I first met on a fishing trip to Arkansas back in March of 2005. I would drive down south to meet up with a good friend that had been fishing in Arkansas for many years. My friend asked if I would bring his friend, My Hero, with me on that trip. He lived close by in another town and was on break from college. That sounded great to me and My Hero’s mom brought him that morning, and we headed south to Arkansas. That was the first time My Hero and I met.

The way it worked out, My Hero and I were going to fish together for the week in my boat. We had lots of fun fishing together. It was hilarious. One morning we were trolling across the lake and I heard something behind me, so I turned to check my poles. As I was turned around, I heard a loud thud. My Hero had lost consciousness, hit the side of the boat with his cheek, fell face first in the bottom of the boat, and was no longer breathing.

I had just finished CPR recertification for the fire department three days prior. Thanks to my good friend I had went down to fish with who insists we have marine radios in the boat, I called him, told him My Hero was down and I was going to start CPR and to hurry. While help was on the way on land and by water, I shook My Hero a little bit, called his name, he took one deep breath and woke up. He was as white as a sheet. He got in the truck with his dad and was taken to the hospital. I was honored to have been there for My Hero, but when I saw him reaching out for me when I was drowning, I knew immediately that the Lord sent him.

I reached for his hand and he held me up until I could rest long enough to get to the ladder in the rear of the boat. He radioed some other boats for help to try to recover my boat which was still spinning in circles. Several boats showed up. One of my good friends who was with me on the trip got in the boat with My Hero and I, and they took me back to camp. I was very, very weak. I could sit up but felt best to slump over. I was shaking, crying, and simply whipped. I felt so weak.

When we got to Camp Lacupolis he pulled into the dock. I remember them helping me out of the boat. I was so weak but I could stand with some help. My friend on the trip got my sweatshirt, rain suit, and shoes off. I remember when we got across the dock and up the steps it turned to gravel. He told me, “If the rocks hurt your feet, I’ll carry you.” I was overwhelmed by his kindness. We had been friends since grade school. He helped me to the truck and took me to the cabin. He warmed up the shower for me. The shower was awesome. I stood in the shower for a real long time crying off and on realizing I had just met the Lord. The shower was a good way to regain my thoughts.

By the time I was dressed the rest of the guys were back from retrieving my boat. That was quite exciting. I was thankful to have such good friends.

It was around 4:45 when I got a hold of my wife. I told her that when we had talked earlier that morning, that was almost the last time we ever got to talk. We had an emotional conversation as I told her all about my experience. She, of course, was shaken up. The only thing she could see in her mind was me in the water. I told her not to be sad. I told her that it was a blessing. My trip was to last until the next Sunday which was six more days. We agreed to both drive half way on Wednesday so we could see each other and do more talking. We were both anxious to see each other, and we looked at each other like we had never done before.

The facts alone are enough for anyone to see that this is a miracle. The fact that I survived with all those clothes on. The fact that the motor hit me, tore my pants and didn’t cut my leg. The fact that My Hero was the one that saved me. The fact that I was there for My Hero a few years ago. The fact that I tried to drown myself but couldn’t.

The day before I left on our trip, a pastor from Waterloo called and wanted his car worked on. He delivered it to my shop, and we talked about fishing. I was so impressed with all the places he had been on fishing trips. I gave him a ride to meet his wife and during our drive he told me that he would pray for a good trip. The last thing that he said when I dropped him off was that he was going to pray that at least one person in my group would come to know the Lord that week.

I didn’t see My Hero or talk with him until two days after the event. I had wanted to go fishing with him but he had already gone home. I told him that I loved him and thanked him for saving my life.

I know what I know. God is real. God loves us. God hears us. God sends help. God forgives sin. God is good all the time. So what do you think about that?