Matt Richerzhagen was speaking to a group of young people on April 30, 2022, and shared an incredible experience that had just recently happened to him. This is what he told them:
On March 8, I was at my house, and I was going to go to a meeting. I was going to go, and then I wasn’t going to go, and then I was going to go, and then I wasn’t going to go, back and forth. I wanted to be there with my brethren, and I wanted to be with my amazing wife. I finally decided, “Okay, I’m going to go!” I had paid my bills, which I never do on Tuesday — I always do it on Saturday — and so all my bills for the month were paid (which was a huge help since I was going to spend the next 21 days in the hospital). I then got in my car and drove to the meeting. We sat there and talked, and when I thought the meeting was over, I said, “Hey, let’s pray and we’ll go.” After somebody else spoke for a few more minutes and the meeting was truly over, I said “Good night,” got in my car and started driving on the highway to my house.
I then set the cruise control at 63 mph. I didn’t know that there was a drunk driver who was driving back and forth over that stretch of road. This man had been pulled over by the Washington State Patrol earlier in the day. He was driving a bit fast, so the officer just told him to tone it down. If he would have asked for his license and proof of insurance, he would have been off the road right then and there, as he didn’t have any insurance (which is required by law).
I was driving, um (you guys don’t know where it is), but anyway, partway home, and this guy was coming at me at 105 mph, he was driving sooooo fast! He came around the corner in front of me. It was so fast my brain couldn’t even comprehend it. I got almost even with him and he turned right into my car, head-on! I was going 63 mph. I’m thinking (I was still awake) and I’m like, “Why would you run into me?!??” I was just baffled, because it seemed like he did it on purpose, and I’m just like, “Why would you do that??!” So, I’m sitting there in my car and I was like, “Okay, I’ve been in a car wreck. Okay.” Because it was a pretty big crash and I was just trying to gather my wits, you know. I moved my leg, and I knew I had a broken leg, and I moved my hip, and I knew I had a broken hip. I remember unbuckling my seat belt (but the guy who pulled me out said he unbuckled my seat belt, so maybe I misremember that), but my car caught on fire, and I still hadn’t moved.
Surrounded by Flames
I was sitting there trying to figure things out. It was a huge impact, and it really shook me. My doctor told me later that most people wouldn’t have survived the impact. As I was sitting there, my engine burst into flames. It’s weird because I wasn’t scared even though I was trapped in a burning car. My mother-in-law was the third car behind me and she said the flames were 8-10 feet tall.
There were people that had stopped alongside the road, and this man who had just been passed by the drunk driver, he came around just a little bit down the road, and ... here’s a car wreck. He gets out of his pickup and comes over, and he climbs into a burning car. Do you get this ... he climbs into a burning car to help someone he doesn’t even know? This is kind of dangerous, to say the least. He doesn’t know me, and he says to me (he’d tried the driver’s door, which was broken), he said, “We gotta get out of here; your car’s on fire.” And I’m like, “Right! Yeah, that’s a great idea. I’ve got a broken leg and a broken hip. Anything else we should do?” I wasn’t trying to be funny.
He climbed into the back seat of the car and put his arms underneath my arms and tried to lift me and nothing happened. He couldn’t budge me because I was bigger and heavier than him. He tried my seat, and the power was out; the battery was burned up or it blew up in the car wreck or whatever. So, he put his arms back underneath my arms and he said, “Lord, help me get this man out of here!” And my guardian angel lifted me. I went up against the ceiling, over the seat and into the back seat. I have never in my life experienced anything like that; it wasn’t like somebody pulling on me. It was like a forklift moved me; it was SO powerful! I have been carried by angels. Psalm 91:11-12 Says, “He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands.”
A Race for Life
It hurt like crazy, because I was so broken up. He got me in the backseat and he still couldn’t get me out of the car. He had to go get help, and they came and dragged me outside. They got me out of the car and onto the highway pavement. I was bleeding to death because my femoral artery was cut, so they stopped the bleeding in my artery.
Then something blew up; it was really super exciting! It was like being in a movie, I’m not kidding you! I thought, “Wow, this is really cool, like a movie, and I’m the stunt man!” Anyway, then they dragged me down the road, and they got the bleeding stopped. The State Patrol Officer asked if he could get a statement, and I said, “Sure. I’m not doing anything else.” Pretty soon an ambulance was there, and I’m not watching my watch, but I’m like, “Wait a minute, you know it takes a while for 9-1-1 to respond, because we’re out in the middle of nowhere. It takes a while to send an ambulance.” Well, these amazing EMT people from the fire department, they were doing EMT practicing exercises, and they ended at 9 PM. They were all suited up, all ready to go, and they were just a couple of miles down the road. The 9-1-1 call came in at 9:10 or 9:13, so they sent an ambulance, and they’re there right away. And I’m like, “No possible way!”
The ambulance was actually just about to make the turn back to town from the airport where they were training when the call came in. Instead of returning to their station, they just turned left onto the highway towards me and were right there.
So, they get me in the ambulance and drive me to town, and they ask me my name, my birthdate, my phone number, my wife’s name, my wife’s phone number ... didn’t ask me her birthday. I don’t know why! They cut my clothes off of me so fast that it actually scared me. They have to see what they are working on. The whole ride I kept telling them I wanted to go to sleep. It hurt so badly. They said no and kept questioning me. When I finally got to the hospital, I asked the doctor if I could go to sleep and he said yes. The next thing I remember was waking up in ICU five days later. They put me on some pretty heavy drugs. When I closed my eyes, I didn’t see the inside of my eyelids; I saw pretty red cartoons. Anyway, we get to the hospital, and they do a CT scan, and I had a broken talus bone, crushed in 17 pieces, a broken hip (iliac crest broken into seven pieces), a broken leg bone, three broken ribs, a burst small intestine, large intestine, colon and I had a hole in my left hip that you could put two fists through into my leg. They did a CT scan on my insides. I was completely full of blood and feces, so they cut me open to clean me up. The surgical team came together and prayed for me before the first surgery. The anesthesiologist came in and said, “He’s not going to make it.” Two or three times it took everyone on the team to keep me alive. I wasn’t just almost dead; I was mostly dead. They gave me six units of blood and my body only holds seven.
Struggling
I wasn’t stable enough to do the full surgery, because I was so beat up. They then put me on life support for a couple of days, until I was strong enough for the rest of the procedure, which happened on Thursday.
They put me in intensive care. They intubated me. I was on 14 IVs. They struggled with four medications at maximum doses to keep my blood pressure over 75/50 (which is horrible, by the way). My heart rate was 125 beats per minute. My ICU nurse never left my side all night long that first night. On Thursday they took me back into surgery to sew up all the damage in my internals the best they could.
I was in ICU for five days before they stepped me down to a regular room. I was in so much pain, it was unbelievable. I didn’t know you could hurt that bad. Day after day it was all I could do to hang in there. My mission every day was to make it to that night, and my mission at night was to make it to the morning. I don’t know why, but nights were especially bad. I was so uncomfortable that I barely slept. It took them about 10 days to get my medications figured out so I had some relief from the pain.
Painful Recovery
Physical therapy came and pushed me and pushed me. It hurt so badly. At times it felt like being tortured. They got me up and sat me on the edge of the bed, and that was almost more than I could bear. I just sat there. After a while, they had me standing on a piece of equipment called a Sara steady. I was standing with 90% of my weight on my right leg (broken leg and crushed talus bone in the foot). They asked me if it hurt and I said yes. They asked, Can you do it, and I said yes. My right leg became all red and swollen. Because of the swelling, they decided to get a CT scan and found the crushed talus bone. They put a cast on me and told me I couldn’t put any weight on it. THEN they wanted me to stand up again. Here I am with a fractured iliac crest (in seven pieces) on my left hip, I was standing with almost all my weight on my right leg, and now I’m somehow supposed to stand with my left leg? But somehow they got me to push through the pain and we got it done. Each exercise was a step in healing.
Loving-Kindness
My wife Brenda was there for me every day. On Sundays, she even dressed up. I can’t express what her love and care meant to me. Her love and care helped to save my life.
And all this time, the Lord watched over me. I shouldn’t have survived that accident — just the impact alone! And I should’ve bled to death right there. And I should’ve, I should’ve, I should’ve, I should’ve ... and I’m just like, “Okay, Lord.” I just want you guys to know, I don’t understand; this makes no sense to me. But I trust Him. I’m not through this; I’m way far from being through this! I can’t even walk on my own; I walk with crutches. But I started thanking the Lord — “Thank you, Lord, for this trial.” I cried when I thanked Him the first time — it hurts!
But you know, there’s blessing in what the Lord passes us through. For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. If you have a little trial, there’s a little opportunity for blessing; if you have a great, big, huge trial, there’s a great, big, huge opportunity for blessing. And that’s what I’m looking for. Thank you guys so much for listening. I love you guys so much; you guys are the future. I know it, Jesus knows it, and the devil knows it. Every resource is there for you, so, follow after Him. God bless you all; I love you.
One thought that was shared by a friend was really a help to me in all this. “God never uses more force than is necessary.” He never uses 120 pounds of pressure if 75 will do. He doesn’t use a 12-inch crescent wrench if a 10-inch will do. As for God, His way is perfect ... it can’t be improved, even by 5 minutes. I say, “God, was this really all necessary?” and the answer is “Yes.” There is no waste in God’s economy. Everything gets used. This has been used in many people’s lives. I have a new favorite Bible verse: “We are more than conquerors through HIM that loved us” (Romans 8:3737Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Romans 8:37)).
What About You?
Matt had put his faith and trust in Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He had a solid Rock to stand on in time of trouble. Many people think that if they have faith in being spiritual, or faith in faith (whatever that means), or they just naturally have enough faith, or faith in God, the universe, or whatever — that they will be okay. But this is just a lie of the devil, the greatest deceiver of all time. Faith ALWAYS has an object, whether it be in a thing, a person or an idea.
God wants all to be saved. That is why He sent His only Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)). It is our faith in Jesus that pleases God. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him [God]: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:66But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)).
The drunk driver was killed instantly on impact. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt and the front axle was in the front seat. In less than a moment he went from time to eternity. His eternal destiny is forever sealed. Once you pass from this scene, there is no second chance for you. His opportunity to accept Jesus Christ is now gone forever. What about you? It’s your move ...