Darlington County Habitat

The following is an eyewitness account of events

as they unfolded during Darlington County Habitat’s

annual celebration banquet on October 4th 2007.

It was written by the Executive Director of the

 local affiliate that was in attendance that night…...
Text Box: Where do you begin to explain witnessing a miraculous miracle? How do you tell the story that pictures would undoubtedly prove without a word being said? Why didn’t we take pictures at the time? Many questions came to mind the days following and the answers I got were the following. The banquet was attended by the most people ever and the night’s event began on time with everyone enjoying a delicious meal. The “Chair” of our affiliate had completed his welcome and acknowledgements of those in attendance. He introduced Jamie, the representative of our banquet’s sponsor (Carolina Bank) who in turn introduced the keynote speaker. Former S. C. Governor David Beasley was into his speech for about ten minutes when a disturbance occurred. David abruptly stopped and looked to my right. Still looking at the Former Governor who had already began walking in that direction, I noticed a change in his demeanor. The look on David’s face told me that whatever was happening to my right was far more critical than him wanting to continue. To everyone’s astonishment, a dear elderly lady (Emma) from Darlington was laid out on the floor with a Doctor performing CPR. I began to say quietly “Dear heavenly Father” and “Dear God”. Looking back to my left I recognized two other Medical Doctors rushing to assist with the CPR. You could hear bits and pieces of sentences being said by the doctors and quickly everyone realized that the lady was dead. Looking just a few feet from them I saw Jamie (Carolina Bank’s Representative and husband to the first Medical Doctor giving aid to Emma) calling 911 on his cell phone. My mind was on one thing like everyone else there that night and that was prayer to God for Emma. You could hear the prayers being offered up. Some soft, some loud, but the room was in one accord with prayer. I don’t know how long Emma was in the arms of God. Some say it was twenty minutes before she began to live again. The amount of time here does not matter. The point is God had chosen those moments to speak again to his creation and very clearly let everyone know that He is still in control. I don’t know why God let go of her hand that night. Maybe it was His compassion for all the prayers he heard. Maybe He just wanted to say I’m with you and still in control. Or do you think the same as I do? Could it be with so many cameras there and no pictures taken that He was also saying something else to us? Two thousand years ago Jesus spoke to the disciples and said “Go into all the land and tell what you have seen”. Could it be things happened on October 4th also for that same reason? Maybe God is saying with no cameras and no pictures “Go and tell all what you have seen.” This I have done…….