An account of God’s providence intertwining the lives of three members of the Presbyterian Church in America.

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” Proverbs 16:9.

Bob Sweet, Dr. Evan Zeiger, and Miriam Gautier had two things in common. Spiritually, all three “fell” in Adam; all three were restored by the Second Adam, Jesus, our Savior. Physically, all three fell again. Herein lies the difference: two died from their falls and one survived. I, Miriam, am alive.

Robert G. Sweet: I met Bob Sweet, a PCA minister through a telephone call. He had just become the Editor of the PCA Messenger magazine. He was going through the “maybe we’ll publish these stories someday” file. He found a few of my submissions. He liked them! Therefore, naturally, I liked him. Bob and I worked together for over three years. Through this time Bob became my writing mentor and I got to know him as a kind, godly man.

Dr. Evan Zeiger: I met Dr. Zeiger (we found out later was a member of Briarwood PCA in Birmingham) in an ICU room in Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama. I arrived by rescue helicopter with a severe head injury. My husband, Joe, and friends, Gerry and Bonnie Wilhite, arrived by car. They were by my bedside praying for the right doctor to help me. Dr. Zeiger walked into the room and asked, “May I join you in prayer?” God’s answer to our prayers had just arrived.

The Second Falls
Miriam Gautier, April 27, 2009: We arrived at Bonnie and Gerry’s house in Cullman, Alabama at the perfect time. Dinner time. After dinner, we all went to the backyard to investigate their huge vegetable garden. Bonnie and I left the men to their intense conversation about fertilizer. We went into the house to sit and chat about our kids and grandkids. I dashed to what I thought was the bathroom door to wash my “garden” hands. I had chosen the wrong door and, to my shock, I tripped and was tumbling down stairs to the basement. There was no way to stop my fall. My body hit the cement wall at the bottom with a resounding thud. I landed in a sitting position and immediately began to take inventory. I slowly moved my feet, my hands and my arms. Nothing was broken but I knew something was wrong with my head. I felt a circle of numbness above my ears surrounding my head. I kept repeating, “Something is wrong with my head; something is wrong with my head.” “Head Injury,” was my husband’s call to 911.

When the rescue team arrived they strapped me to a board so that my neck and head couldn’t move. I was rushed to Cullman Regional Hospital where they immediately took a CT scan of my brain. Results weren’t good and the doctors at Cullman Regional knew I needed to be in an intensive care unit but, they had no ICU bed for me. The nearest facility with an available bed was Brookwood Medical in Birmingham, sixty miles away where neurosurgeon, Dr. Evan Zeiger, was reviewing my test results. After seeing my CT scan, Dr. Zeiger immediately ordered that I be taken by emergency helicopter to Brookwood. Upon my arrival to Brookwood, Dr. Zeiger, told me that my CT scan showed that I had an “acute right frontal subdural hematoma with mass effect and swelling.” and that he would have to operate immediately or I would die. He operated and that day he saved my life.

Bob Sweet, January 9, 2010: It was bitter cold the morning when Bob Sweet went out of his house to pick up his paper and mail a letter. There was a light snow on the ground but no ice to be seen. Unknown to Bob, hidden under the snow was a small area of ice near the drainpipe on the sidewalk. He slipped; his feet went out from under him and he fell. Hecame down hard hitting the back of his head. The blow knocked him out. Bob never woke up. The death certificate read: “traumatic subdural hematoma.”

Dr. Evan Zeiger, March 6, 2010: Compiled from Associated Press: “Dr. Evan Zeiger, a Birmingham neurosurgeon, and his wife, Peggy, died after the vintage WWII Navy trainer plane he was piloting crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle. According to witnesses, Dr Zeiger’s plane was coming out of a loop and he couldn’t pull it up in time. The plane fell into the ocean. The US Coast Guard was able to locate the Zeigers inside the wrecked plane fifty feet underwater.” From Dr. Zeiger’s obituary, Birmingham News: “He was a trained formation flyer and aerobatics pilot. Flying made Evan’s heart sing. How joyous that Evan went to be with the Father flying into His arms.”

There Are No Accidents with God
Our sovereign God has our lives in His hands. There are no mistakes, surprises or accidents in the hands of God. He has ordained what is to come to pass. He has numbered our days. Shirley Sweet, Bob’s wife, said it so well, “Bob’s work was done.” Dr. Zeiger’s “work was done.” I thank God for Bob Sweet, my mentor and Dr. Zeiger, who saved my life. They were God’s faithful servants to the end. So I, as the survivor, pray that I, too, will serve God faithfully to the day when “my work will be done.”

“Misspend not your short sandglass, which runneth very fast.”
Andrew Bonar

Miriam Gautier is a member of Springs Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Dunnellon, Fla.