On July 22nd I was en route to Washington, DC for a business trip. It
was all so very ordinary, until landing in Denver for a plane change. As I collected my belongings from the overhead bin, an announcement was made for Mr. Lloyd Glenn to see the United Customer Service Representative immediately. I thought nothing of it until I reached the door to leave the plane, and I heard a gentleman asking every Male if they were Mr. Glenn. At this point I knew  something was wrong and my heart sunk.
  When I got off the plane a solemn faced young man came  toward me and
said, "Mr. Glenn, there is an emergency at your home. I do not know what the
emergency is, or who is involved, but I will take you to the phone so you
can call the hospital." My heart was now pounding, but the will to be calm
took over. Woodenly, I followed this stranger to the distant telephone where
I called the number he gave me for the Mission Hospital. My call was put
through to the trauma center where I learned that my three-year-old son had
been trapped underneath the automatic garage door for several minutes, and
that when my wife had found him he was dead.
    CPR had been performed by a neighbor, who is a doctor, and the
paramedics had continued the treatment as Brian was transported to the
hospital. By the time of my call, Brian was revived and they believed he
would live, but they did not know how much damage had been done to his
brain, nor to his heart.
    They explained that the door had completely closed on his little sternum
right over his heart. He had been severely crushed. After speaking with the
medical staff, my wife sounded worried but not hysterical, and I took
comfort in her calmness. The return flight seemed to last forever, but
finally I arrived at the hospital six hours after the garage door had come down.
    When I walked into the intensive care unit, nothing could have prepared
me to see my little son laying so still on a great big bed with tubes and
monitors everywhere. He was on a respirator. I glanced at my
wife who stood and tried to give me a reassuring smile. It all seemed like a
terrible dream. I was fill-in with the details and given a guarded
prognosis. Brian was going to live, and the preliminary tests indicated that
his heart was OK, two miracles in and of themselves.
     But only time would tell if his brain received any damage. Throughout
the seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm. She felt that Brian would eventually be all right. I hung on to her words and faith like a
lifeline. All that night and the next day Brian remained unconscious. It
seemed like forever since I had left for my business trip the day before.
Finally at two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained consciousness and
sat up uttering the most beautiful words I have ever heard spoken. He
said,"Daddy hold me" and he reached for me with his little arms. 
[TEAR BREAK...smile]
     By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological or physical
deficits, and the story of his miraculous survival spread throughout the hospital. You cannot imagine when we took Brian home,
we felt a unique reverence for the life and love of  our Heavenly Father
that comes to those who brush death so closely.
     In the days that followed there was a special spirit about our home.
Our two older children were much closer to their little brother. 
My wife and I were much closer to each other, and all of us were very close as a whole family. 
Life took on a less stressful pace. Perspective seemed to be more focused, and
balance much easier to gain and maintain. We felt deeply blessed. Our
gratitude was truly profound.
     The story is not over (smile)! Almost a month later to the day of the
accident, Brian awoke from his
afternoon nap and said, "Sit down Mommy. I have something to tell you." At
this time in his life, Brian usually spoke in small phrases, so to say a
large sentence surprised my wife.
     She sat down with him on his bed, and he began his sacred and
remarkable story. "Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door?
Well, it was so heavy and it hurt really bad. I called to you, but
you couldn't hear me I started to cry, but then it  hurt too bad. And then
the 'birdies' came."
     "The birdies?" my wife asked puzzled.
  "Yes," he replied. "The birdies made a whooshing sound and flew into
the garage. They took care of me."
     "They did?"
     "Yes," he said. "one of the birdies came and got you.  She came to tell
you I got stuck under the door." A sweet reverent feeling filled the room.
The spirit was so strong and yet lighter than air.
      My wife realized that a three-year-old had no concept of death and
spirits, so he was referring to the beings who came to him from beyond as "birdies"  because they were up in the air like birds that fly.
     "What did the birdies look like?" she asked.
     Brian answered, "They were so beautiful. They were dressed in white,
all white. Some of them had green and white. But some of them had on just
white."
  "Did they say anything?"
     "Yes," he answered. "They told me the baby would be all right."
     "The baby?" my wife asked confused.
      Brian answered. "The baby laying on the garage floor." He went on, You
came out and opened the garage door and ran to the baby. You told the baby
to stay and not leave."
     My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, for she had indeed gone and
knelt beside Brian's body and
seeing his crushed chest whispered, "Don't leave us Brian, please stay if
you can." As she listened to
Brian telling her the words she had spoken, she realized that the spirit had
left his body and was looking down from above on this little lifeless form.
     "Then what happened?" she asked..
     "We went on a trip." he said, "Far, far away." He grew agitated trying
to say the things he didn't seem to have the words for.
     My wife tried to calm and comfort him, and let him know it would be
okay. He struggled with wanting to tell something that obviously was very
important to him, but finding the words was difficult. "We flew so
fast up in the air. They're so pretty Mommy," he added. "And there are lots
and lots of birdies." My wife was stunned. Into her mind the sweet
comforting spirit enveloped her more soundly, but with an urgency
she had never before known. Brian went on to tell her that the "birdies" had
told him that he had to come back and tell everyone about the "birdies." 
He said they brought him back to the house and that a big fire
truck and an ambulance were there. A man was bringing the baby out on a
white bed and he tried to tell the man that the baby would be okay, but the
man couldn't  hear him. He said the birdies told him he had to go with the
ambulance, but they would be near him. He said they were so pretty and so
peaceful, and he didn't want to come back. Then the bright light came.  He
said that the light was so bright and so warm, and he loved the bright light
so much. Someone was in the bright light and put their arms around him, and
told him, "I love you but you have to go back. You have to  play baseball,
and tell everyone about the birdies.
    "Then the person in the bright light kissed him and waved bye-bye. Then
whoosh, the big sound came and they went into the clouds.
     The story went on for an hour. He taught us that "birdies" were always
with us, but we don't see them
because we look with our eyes and we don't hear them  because we listen with
our ears. But they are always there, you can only see them in here (he put
his hand over his heart). They whisper the things to help us to do what is
right because they love us so much.
     Brian continued, stating, "I have a plan, Mommy. You have a plan. Daddy
has a plan. Everyone has a plan. We must all live our plan and keep our
promises. The birdies help us to do that cause they love us so much."
     In the weeks that followed, he often came to us and told all or part of
it, again and again. Always the
story remained the same. The details were never changed or out of order. A
few times he added further
habits of information and clarified the message he had  already delivered.
    It never ceased to amaze us how he could tell such detail and speak
beyond his ability when he talked
about his birdies. Everywhere he went, he told strangers about the
"birdies." Surprisingly, no one ever looked at him strangely when he did this.
    Rather, they always got a softened look on their face and smiled.
    Needless to say, we have not been the same ever since that day, and I
pray we never will be.