Students say surviving New Year's Day accident part of a 'bigger plan'
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
When Arika Stovall and Hunter Hanks left Jacksonville, Florida, on New Year’s Day to travel the nearly 600 miles to Nashville, they could not have imagined that they would end the day in a hospital lucky to be alive.
A senior graphic design student, Stovall and Hanks, a junior marketing major and a member of Lipscomb’s baseball team, were nearing their final destination around 8 p.m. that day when things suddenly went very wrong.
Stovall was asleep in the passenger seat, and Hanks was driving.
About 25 minutes outside of Nashville, along I-24 in neighboring Rutherford County, the Toyota Tundra Hanks was driving veered off the road and in a matter of seconds hit several posts along the highway before smashing into a concrete bridge support before coming to a rest.
The truck was a crumpled wad of twisted steel that bore no resemblance to the vehicle that had seconds earlier been carrying the couple toward Nashville. To passersby, it was hard to imagine that anyone could survive such a crash.
The force of the impact sent Hanks’ head through the windshield of the truck, where he was unconscious and bleeding. Stovall was somehow alert and began screaming desperately to get Hanks to answer her while she was trying to move her legs in the wreckage.
And then, the unexpected happened … again.
“All I saw was Hunter’s head through the windshield, a face full of blood and a body that wasn’t moving,” Stovall recalls. “I looked straight out of the truck and there was a man. He was bright with a big white beard. There were no other cars in sight. Just this man. He was my guardian angel. He saw me and immediately told me that an ambulance was coming.”
She says this man gave her a sense of peace in the midst of the storm.
“I don’t know if it was a hallucination or me unconsciously dreaming or a glimpse of heaven,” she says. “But all I knew in that moment was that Hunter was safe with me. I asked this man when the ambulance was coming. He told me in just a second. He walked away. I blinked and a flashlight was in my face. The paramedics were there helping me and Hunter. We were in good hands.”
Hanks had to be cut out of the wreckage, and the couple was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Once at the hospital, Hanks and Stovall repeatedly asked the doctors and nurses to see each other. The last time he saw her, Stovall was asleep in the car. The last time she saw him, Hanks was not responding. Once Hanks’ was finished with several tests and CT scans, he immediately found Stovall to see for himself that she was okay. It was in that moment that a friend of the couple, who met at Lipscomb and has been together for two years, took a picture of the reunion that was posted on Stovall’s Facebook page as a way to let friends and family 
know they were ok. The picture shows the two, both in neck braces and hospital gowns, looking affectionately at each other.
“I just needed to talk to him and make sure he was okay,” Stovall says. “For me to see him walking into my room was a miracle. I knew how I was doing, and I was fine. But I didn’t know that he was fine.”
It’s a picture that instantly went viral and to date has been shared 90,897 times. It has caught the attention of the media, and has been picked up by stations across the country, including CNN and ABC News, and around the world as a “love story” of sorts.
But that’s not the story Hanks and Stovall want people to remember from their accident. The real story, they say, is how God protected them on that day.
As horrific as the crash aftermath may have looked, neither Hanks nor Stovall suffered serious injury. No bones were broken. No serious internal injuries. Hanks suffered injuries to his face and has a lacerated liver. Stovall received injuries to a knee and ankle. They were released less than 48 hours after the accident.
“I am overwhelmed at how little damage was done to us in a wreck that should have chopped our bodies in half,” she says. “I’m in awe of the presence of God in this entire situation. Every part of this experience we went through points directly to him. The way God helped Hunter to respond the way he did behind the wheel, spinning the truck exactly where it needed to be to smash into the pillar directly between us so we were both untouched. That doesn’t just happen. God doesn’t throw protection around like that for no reason. He does it because he’s not finished with us.”
Hanks says he believes there is a higher purpose at work that has brought so much attention to this story.
“There's only one reason I believe as to why this story has gotten so much attention, and that's simply because God has a message for each individual that reads our story,” he says. “I know media tends to take religion out of their telling of our story just for the reason of not offending anyone. Therefore, there has been a lot of focus on the picture itself, creating a ‘love story’ if you will, instead of the events that we wanted to share with everyone.”
Hanks says they want to share the story of the presence that comforted Stovall at the wreck site as well as their miraculous recovery.
“I am amazed. Absolutely taken away by the presence of God,” Stovall confesses. “So blessed for him sending me an angel. So thankful for Hunter and his second chance for life and for his healing and health. We are so thankful for families who traveled hundreds of miles to be with us and so thankful for all of the thoughts and prayers that were sent our way. The power of prayer is real, and it healed me and Hunter.”
But there’s more.
With all of the chaos that ensued during the wreck, two objects remained unscathed — Hanks’ two Bibles. One the Bibles somehow ended up where Hanks’ truck came to a rest.
“This was a brand new Bible of mine that had never once been marked in,” he says. “This Bible was found with a page clearly folded in the top corner with the key verse on the page saying ‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’”
“Getting that story into the media these days is pretty close to impossible. And that's one reason I believe the Facebook post has blown up. People see the true message of the story, not just some picture that, as many critics have said, we ‘posed’ for. And in today's world you just don't hear about God stories anymore because we live in a society that often closes its ears to the truth of what and who God is. The Christian gets mocked and mentally beaten down everywhere for just proclaiming His name.”
Hanks admits he struggles with his attitude at times like that, but he believes it’s because he has the wrong mindset.
“We as Christians need to remember that God has called us to love, not to be loved. The moment we start hiding the God moments in today's life because we're afraid of how we'll be treated is the moment this world slips more into darkness and hopelessness, which is exactly what the devil wants,” says Hanks. “With how bad everything is, I would assume a modern day miracle would give millions hope and reassurance that God still has everything under control, and He's always right there with us. That's what our accident has taught me the most. He's always there, no matter what you've done or how imperfect a Christian you are. That feeling alone has brought me so much peace over the past week. This story was obviously part of a plan God had that neither of us ever saw coming.”
Stovall says even at the darkest times in life, her faith gives her strength and gratitude. She shared the following message recently on her Facebook page:
“I want everyone to know the love and the power of God. He has a purpose ... and it's so clear that NOTHING ... not even a car accident like this one will cause his plans for you to change. We are put on this beautiful earth for a reason, and the reason is to help people know him. We are made to show and share his love. And if it takes a car wreck like this for me to get to do that then I would do it all over again. I'm praying that everyone who reads this can get a glimpse of God’s faithfulness. He is GOOD. And working. And the plans he has for YOU and your life aren't going anywhere. Good or bad, what you want or what you don't want ... it's God's doing. It's his plans unfolding. It's his kingdom coming. Embrace the struggles and the joys of this life! Without a doubt it's a miracle we're alive, but more than that it's simply God’s plan for us. We're so grateful for this wreck and all it will do in our lives. We are blessed to be okay. And so in love with the amazing God we serve.”
Both Hanks and Stovall were in class Monday, Jan. 11, for the first day of the spring semester. Hanks is planning on beginning workouts with the baseball team in a few weeks to be ready for the upcoming season.