The God Who Sees Me

Most of us have grown accustomed to a certain type of Christmas story - one with frilly bows, pretty boxes, cookies and milk, and loved ones coming together to leave you feeling warm and cozy on the inside. Curt McCrummin’s story is different.

Instead of frilly bows or pretty boxes, he unwrapped a fury of feathers and talons. Instead of warm cookies and milk, he received compound fractures and cactus needles. Instead of meeting the eyes of loved ones by a cozy fire, he met the eyes of hungry coyotes following his blood trail through a chilling and darkening night. But other than the coyotes, there was another set of eyes looking into Curt’s and looking out for him as well. This encounter, more than any of the pain, suffering, or danger he faced, changed the focus of his life.

It wasn’t supposed to be a dramatic or exciting evening. On Christmas Eve, 2020, Curt went out on a friend’s land to check on his deer stand in preparation for the next day’s hunt. He planned, as was his habit, to hunt on Christmas morning and then join friends to celebrate later in the day. He expected a quiet, pleasant Christmas and, if he was lucky, some venison to take home as well.

At about 5:15 pm, the sun was setting as Curt got out of his truck. He left it running (He thought he’d be back shortly). He walked about 50 feet through some cactus and brush to the steel deer stand. The blind at the top of the stand was about 35 feet off the ground. Curt stepped around the cactus at the foot of the ladder and started climbing.

Still standing on the ladder, Curt reached to grab the barrel seat as he approached the blind; however, roosting in the barrel was an owl and her young. The owl attacked, defending herself and her babies. She hit Curt full in the face while savaging his arm with her talons. The force of her attack knocked him backward, off of the ladder. He grabbed the owl as he tried to defend himself and began his freefall to the ground..

Curt had been a pole vaulter in high school. The highest he ever vaulted was about 15 feet. This fall was nearly twice that. The experience flashed through Curt’s mind as he fell, still fighting off the owl’s attack. If you have time to think during a fall…it’s a long fall. Curt also realized that, unlike his pole vaulting experience, there wouldn’t be any cushion or mat waiting for him at the bottom. All that waited for Curt in the dark below the stand was cactus and the cold, hard ground.

After a hard landing, Curt saw the owl fly back up to her roost. She didn’t seem harmed. Instantly he knew that he had not fared so well. Miles away from help on a night most people would be with family, his only choice was to find help on his own.

He wondered if he would bleed out before he even made it to the truck.

Curt forced himself to turn over in the middle of the cactus patch into a crawling position. After falling in cactus, some blood was expected, but there was a lot of it. Curt had knocked out some teeth and was bleeding from his face and mouth. The fall had knocked his breath out of him. When his breath finally came back, blood came with it from his lungs punctured with fractured ribs. He was also bleeding from compound fractures, a bone protruding from his arm, and another from his leg. His bleeding was enough to alarm him as he lay on his back, broken and bruised.

It was then that everything stopped. Curt felt a presence with him. His vision filled with a kaleidoscopic image of eyes looking into his face. He felt God speak to him, saying, “Curt, if you want to go to sleep here, it’s okay. You are hurting really badly.”

Curt turned his head to look at his truck. He thought he was seeing something. Then he looked back and the presence, the eyes, and the message were all still there for him. “It’s okay, Curt. You can rest if you want to.”

Curt replied, “I don’t want to die out here in this cactus patch.” He began slowly and painfully dragging himself through the cactus toward his truck. The night was getting cold. Little by little, he moved toward the open door of his truck.

He felt warmed by the presence that was with him.

Curt couldn’t help but think about the dangers he faced and how alone he felt. He thought how no one would even realize he was missing until the following evening, and no one knew he was at the deer stand. He kept crawling. He thought about the news of a person who had been killed by wild hogs just a few miles from him. He kept crawling.He thought about pain and death. He kept crawling.Even in the midst of these fears, he was comforted, knowing he wasn’t completely alone. He felt warmed by the presence that was with him.

Once he got to his truck, Curt had another problem. He couldn’t pull himself into his truck with a broken arm and leg, but he could reach the horn. He was 12 miles from the nearest blacktop and 27 miles out in the country, but even with little hope that someone would hear, he began to honk the horn.

Instead of people, the horn brought cows. Thinking they were going to be fed, cows crowded around the truck. They pressed against the open door, bumping into Curt and pinning him. He kept trying to pull himself up, but he was getting weaker and weaker with every pull. Then, looking out past the cows about ten yards away, Curt noticed coyotes following him, poised and ready to attack. As one of the coyotes locked eyes with him “I really need to get out of here.”

When the coyote began to charge, Curt lunged upward and the startled cows slammed into the door as they tried to avoid the coyote. The extra bump got Curt most of the way into his truck, and he was able to throw the truck in drive to get it moving. As he looped around the deer stand, one of the coyotes lept at Curt and grabbed his leg. It hung on as it was dragged by the truck. Eventually, Curt picked up enough speed that the coyote lost its grip. Curt saw the coyote rolling in the dusty road behind him.

Curt eventually came across two other hunters in the dark, guarding the gate to the property. Assuming Curt was a poacher not authorized to be on their land, the hunters tried to interrogate Curt. They eventually realized he could barely speak through the intense pain. Finally, one left to get help, and the other stayed with Curt to keep him awake. Curt still felt God’s presence with him as he talked to the confused young man. Curt looked rough, to say the least. While the man helped with his wounds, Curt told him, “God must have a purpose for me,” and the young man agreed.

Due to the severity of his many injuries, Curt was flown by helicopter from the local hospital to the trauma center at JPS in Fort Worth. The doctors openly discussed in front of him how his survival was in doubt. The doctors, God, and Church at the Cross staff and members were with Curt. The doctors and nurses saw to his physical needs. The church staff and members saw to his spiritual and financial needs. They helped to ease his pain and ease his mind.

As Curt slowly recovers, he continues to be amazed at the grace God showed him. Curt’s Faith used to be a part of his life—something he thought about every once in a while or when he went to church, but now, his whole life centers on God.

Curt’s story reminded me of one from the Bible of a helpless person in the wilderness. A person alone and facing certain death. A person to whom God appeared… It reminded me of Hagar, the mother of Abraham’s son, Ishmael. When all seemed hopeless, God saw Hagar and promised her good things. Hagar is the first person recorded in scripture to have given a name to God. She called him, El Roi, “The God that Sees Me,” and she said, “I have seen the One who sees me.”

Like El Roi found Hagar in the desert, he found Curt in the cactus.

At every step, Curt has found that God is still with him. The same God who saw him through the cactus patch, saw him through multiple surgeries. That same God sees him now as he works through physical therapy to overcome physical trauma. He aids him in prayer and counseling to overcome mental and emotional trauma from the memories of his experience.

That same God who saw him is the one who Curt now wants everyone he meets to come and see. As Curt says,

“The whole thing isn’t about my fall.
It’s about how God took care of me.
And, you know…God’s real.”