Stephen tells a story of how he nearly drowned, but was saved through some kind of divine intervention.
It was April Fool’s Day in the year of 1992, Stephen and his first wife were at Nicholas Canyon Beach a bit north of Malibu.
Stephen was body surfing with some other people. The water was cold, in the 50s and he wasn’t wearing a wetsuit.
He started getting cold and his arms were starting to feel heavier. He realized he was farther out than he thought and all the other people had gone in.
He tried to swim back to shore, but he was stuck in a riptide and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t swim in. Stephen was starting to feel real fear for his life as he became colder and weaker. His arms became like lead.
He saw a lifeguard standing next to his watchtower; flirting with some girls. Stephen shouted for him twice. Then with the last of his strength Stephen shouted once more and he saw the lifeguard spin around and look at him.
Then Stephen went down. He was about 6 feet under water. He was holding his breath but felt the cold envelope him. He started to see that light people see before dying and was thinking “this isn’t so bad,” when miraculously a hand came down from above and grabbed his arm. The next thing he knew he was in the headlock position lifeguards use to rescue swimmers. The lifeguard said, “Don’t worry, I got you.”
Stephen was about 120 feet from shore. Whenever he tells this story he says, “Even Michael Phelps couldn’t have made that swim, and somehow miraculously found me 6 feet under the water in just a few seconds.”
Then Stephen was dragged out of the surf. He was panting on the beach, listening to his wife berate him for being stupid. He looked around for the lifeguard to thank him, but the man had disappeared. He couldn’t be seen on the long beach in any direction.
Stephen believes to this day that he was saved by some kind of angel or maybe the family spirit guide Ole Glegley.
