Shot Down Behind Enemy Lines
On June 2, 1995, I was flying my F-16C over Bosnia, enforcing the NATO no-fly zone, when a Serbian surface-to-air missile slammed into my aircraft. In a split second, I went from routine patrol to fighting for my life.
I ejected at over 25,000 feet, tumbling through the sky, and landed in enemy territory with Serbian forces actively hunting me. For the next six days, I would face the greatest test of my life - and discover the deepest source of peace I had ever known.
Six Days of Desperate Prayer
Those six days could have been the worst of my life. I was alone, hunted, eating ants and leaves for sustenance, drinking rainwater, developing trench foot from the cold and wet. Serbian patrols came so close I could see the faces of the helicopter pilots searching for me. At any moment, I could be captured, tortured, killed.
But here is what I tell people: those were the most positive six days of my life. Not because of the circumstances - they were terrifying. But because of what happened inside me.
I prayed constantly. Not the casual prayers of my normal life, but desperate, intimate conversations with God. "Even in the face of death," I discovered, "the greatest source of peace came through my relationship with God." I was able to explore that relationship in depth like never before.
I was raised Catholic, but this experience pushed me beyond any denominational boundaries into raw, authentic faith. I clung to God with everything I had, and He held me. Even when helicopters hovered overhead and soldiers tramped through the brush nearby, I experienced an inexplicable calm.
God's Protection and Rescue
After six days, U.S. Marines rescued me in a dramatic extraction. I came home a hero to many, but I knew the truth: God had sustained me. My survival training helped, but my faith carried me through.
Life Transformed by Faith
The experience changed the trajectory of my life. After 12 years of military service, I enrolled at Dallas Theological Seminary, earning a Master's degree in Christian Leadership. I wanted to understand more deeply the faith that had carried me through my darkest hours.
I look at my entire survival through my faith in God. People sometimes ask what got me through. The answer is simple: prayer. Constant, desperate, grateful prayer. In that Bosnian forest, with death lurking at every turn, I found that God truly is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
