This is a copy of an email sent by Doug Batchelor.
quote:
Dear Friends;
We have received several messages and calls inquiring as to the tragedy that has recently befallen our family, so I would like to take a few moments to give a personal report.
Please feel free to circulate this to any who might be concerned.While conducting a challenging evangelistic meeting in Manila, I received the kind of phone call every parent dreads. My oldest son Micah was in a serious accident with a bulldozer and was being rushed by air to the nearest emergency room. This happened to be the Ukiah SDA hospital. While this was happening, Karen was flying in from San Francisco to join me in Manila for the final week of our meetings. In a state of perpetual prayer, I went to the airport to meet Karen with the heartbreaking news that our son was in critical condition and we needed to catch the next plane back to San Francisco. Fortunately, Gary Gibbs the senior vice president of Amazing Facts and a competent evangelist, was with our team and was able to step in and successfully continue the meetings. Before we left Manila we received word that Micah did not survive. That was a very long and sad trip home.
A few words about our son.
Micah Levi Batchelor was born November 4, 1977, in Fort Bragg, California. He was a beautiful blond curly headed boy with large confident blue eyes. Ever since a child, he longed for anything that had to do with become air borne, from being tossed as a baby, to hang gliding, to swinging out of the trees, to jumping motorcycles. Micah loved flying.
Micah became critically ill with spinal meningitis when he was 19 months old. It required several painful spinal taps which broke my heart to watch as he looked up with his big blue eyes wondering "why are they hurting me?" Micah miraculously survived but from that time on, he seemed to have a special gift of compassion for anyone hurting. He was especially fond of children old folks and always defensive of the underdog. When Micah was 7 years old, he made a grueling hike with me up to the cave high above Palm Springs and back all in one day. I was very proud of my son's athletic ability at such a young age. The next time Micah hiked up to the cave was with our family in February 1995. This time he helped to carry his little brother Stephen on his back.
Micah attended several different schools, from this The Little Red Schoolhouse in Covelo, to schools in Delta, Colorado, Redding and Sacramento, California, as well as a few seasons of homeschooling. Micah graduated from Sacramento Adventist Academy in 1996 and later attended Pacific Union College where he received his pilot's license while studding industrial arts. In 1999 he began working fulltime as a contractor in Covelo.
Micah loved new experiences had a vast number of hobbies for one person. He loved to water-ski, Jet ski, snow ski, kayak, ride Motorcycles, horses, rodeo, four wheelers, and dune buggies. He loved to draw, play his guitar, build, and do auto mechanic work.
Most important, Micah believed in God. Micah believed the Bible and he believed in Jesus and talked to Him frequently. The first song Micah learned on the guitar was Seek Ye First the kingdom of God.
Micah was a very hard worker and had countless ambitious dreams. His dreams were cut short by a tragic accident on Monday, April 30. While loading a Caterpillar on a trailer, the tractor slid off the side and rolled completely over. True to his style, Micah held on to the steel bronco and rode it the full 360. The fiberglass canopy collapsed and he received serious internal injuries but remained calm and alert and was even able to stand as his friends transported him to the clinic. While being airlifted in a chopper to the SDA hospital in Ukiah (Micah loved to fly.) he experienced traumatic cardiac arrest. He was miraculously revived at the hospital but after several hours of surgery heroic efforts to save him he was pronounced dead 46 miles and 23 years from the place of his birth.
On May 3, Micah was buried at the Valley View Cemetery and it seemed as though half the town of Covelo attended the services.
Micah was very strong, intelligent, brave, tall, kind and handsome (I have attached the last picture we took when we went motorcycle riding in Covelo during spring break.) He seemed to possess unlimited potential.
Karen and I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of kind words and prayers for our family. We have been devastated by his death but continue to trust God in spite of our confusion. This tragedy has laid us very low, Psa 142:6. The emotional and even physical pain from this keen loss is, profound, and indescribable. We have a much better concept of our Fathers love in willingly giving His Son.
Micah joined the Amazing Facts evangelism crew that went to India in 1999 and was deeply affected by the poverty he saw. I had invited him to join me in our Manila effort, he wanted to come but he had several pressing construction commitments.
I was very thankful that I called and spoke to Micah from the Philippines a few days ago.
We loved each other very much. The day before he died, Micah called Karen in Sacramento they spoke for 45 minutes. In the conversation he said he wanted to "Return to PUC and find a Christian wife."
Because Micah did not have a family in place [in lieu] of cards or flowers a memorial gift in his name to Amazing Facts would be much appreciated.
Please continue to pray for Karen and I and Micah's five siblings. We do sense the prayers of God's people.
Doug Batchelor & Family
There wasn't any picture attached to the particular email that was forwarded to me.
Let us continue to pray for the Batchelor family.
