*14 years ago I was involved in a motorcycle accident. It was an event that changed my life in many ways. I may have referenced it in past articles but never in detail. For the very first time I will share my experience of that night and a summary of how I was led to begin The TopicalWave. I am led to share this with you and I pray that it will be inspiring to you. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. Put your trust in Him and let Him in. The Lord will give you the peace and rest that you need. May God bless you always. – Raul Infante, Jr. (aka J.R.)
Charleston, South Carolina
After 24 years of a television career working with CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX and freelance work with Disney, the NFL, Sunshine Network, the Law Enforcement TV Network, an independent Christian TV station and the Home Shopping Network, I found myself in Charleston, South Carolina. Along with my wife and daughter, we owned and operated a Class A low power television station with local church programming, revivals and family oriented infomercials.
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On the surface many would say that we were doing well. A life full of news and inspiration gave us satisfaction in the work we had accomplished…but something was wrong. I was not happy. So much effort was made to pursue my career but now I was in a place where I questioned everything, motives by people that were close to me were scrutinized and all around me my dreams, hopes and personal life were going up in smoke. My trust in God had vanished. I felt alone, my relationship with my wife had suffered and in my heart I felt I wasn’t doing enough for my daughter. Father of the year was for someone else, not me.
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November 8, 2005 was just like any other day. Checking our schedules and figuring out who was going where and why. We started talking about our plans for Thanksgiving and decided that we would talk more about it at dinner. It was early evening when my wife and daughter went to a PTA meeting at my daughter’s school, so I took advantage of taking my new motorcycle for a ride and head to Best Buy. The bike was a new distraction. A Honda 750 Shadow Spirit, for the first time in my life I took the plunge and became a ‘rebel’ (lol as the Millennials would say). I had joined the church’s biker group whose motto was, “We Ride to Eat!” A fun bunch and if I could get my wife to come along it might bring back the missing step in our lives. It was Tuesday, the group rode on Wednesdays, so tomorrow would be our introduction to a new chapter in our lives.
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Not finding what I was looking for at Best Buy, I headed for the church where our studios were located. I could get what I needed and get home in time for dinner. What I didn’t realize is that I was riding to a Divine intervention that would bring a dramatic change to my life. 4 miles from home and 5 from the church. At the light I looked left and saw the K-Mart sign, the light turned green and then…
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According to the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) I was involved in a two vehicle accident with injuries under the Royale Rd. bridge on interstate 26 in Summerville, South Carolina. A lady driving a white Dodge Neon, according to the SCDOT report, had followed me for about a mile before she merged left to get ahead of slow traffic. To her dismay the traffic on both the middle and passing lanes were moving too slow so she veered to the right lane where I was located. She blindsided me on the left rear end and I flew 80 feet in the air at 65 mph. I had landed unconscious and unresponsive within 50 yards of my destination.
“Walking Into the Light”
There’s an old saying that I found out is true, “He didn’t know what hit him,” and I had no idea what happened or where I was. Fading up from black my eyes opened and I was standing in a huge room or what seemed like a room but there were no walls or dividers. It looked a little like the space inside the “martian face” the astronauts walked into in the film, “Mission to Mars,” the differences were the stars that were too many to count and someone holding my hand.
“J.R. I have something to show you.” Immediately I knew who it was speaking to me. It was Jesus holding my hand and by calling me J.R., instead of Raul, He knew He had my attention but I couldn’t look up only at what He was showing me. He continued, “My people and the church have lost their way and I have become a cliché to them. They come to the House of God to be entertained by lights, smoke and music. They proclaim, ‘To attract the world we must be like the world’ and put coffee shops, fast food restaurants and video games in their lobbies instead of emphasizing the Holiness of God and the message He has for this troubled generation. More concerned about what they wear and how they look when they should be humbling themselves and helping their brother in need.” While He was speaking He led me to where an object was standing.
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His voice was soothing but firm as He continued to say, “They sit under false teachings and doctrines and make sin acceptable and have walked away from their First Love and have built a wall that separates me from them. They must turn away from evil, repent or the path they choose will lead to eternal peril.” Then the Lord stopped me and directed His next message to me.
“J.R. this has happened to you,” I had no words, “you have separated yourself from me. There is a wall when there once was none. I will show you why so that you may understand,” just then I recognized the object that was standing in front of me, it was a coke machine, “The world is like this machine. When the price is paid a button is pushed and a can comes out. That is you, full of life and ready to be used. When the can becomes empty you are put into the recycle bin and sent to be restored and filled up to be used again. It is a blessing to abide in me for when you follow me you will never be discarded and abandoned but when the devil comes he steals from the machine, empties the can, crushes it and throws it away. Never to be restored and to be burned in the furnace.”
“The gift and talent I gave to you was used well by you but over the years you took this gift for granted and assumed that at any time it could serve you and your ambitions. When you took the lead that’s when things became hard. No longer was I the center of your life. You stopped trusting in me and became bitter inside,” every word brought more conviction. He was right. I had given up, I felt that no one was listening, alone in a crowded room, and the Lord wasn’t answering my prayers but wasn’t I doing the right thing? Still, no words could I speak but my thoughts were racing a thousand times a second and His voice was very clear, “Trouble at home, your marriage, business and health but never coming into my presence so that I could give you rest. Shallow platitudes is all you could give and now I stand before you.”
It was too late. Something had gone wrong, one second I was looking at a K-Mart sign, the next second I’m standing in a room full of stars and the Lord. Then before me a giant screen came on and I saw a church service with people speaking about me and consoling my wife and daughter with words of encouragement and hope. “We will see him again,” but I didn’t feel comforted then I was brought to the banks of a river but no one was there. No one to welcome me home.
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I felt empty inside, my heart was shattered and the pain I felt was indescribable. All I had ever done in my life was all in vain. Somehow I had done this to myself. I was sick and fearing what was next. Then the Lord spoke, “Millions have stood where you stand and it all could have been avoided if they had not been foolish and not prepared. Now what awaits is judgement.”
The stars, I’ll be one of the stars or so I thought. Then everything went black…the end was happening and everything inside of me became frantic. I knew what was next and heaven was not my final destination. I started to scream’ “No! I don’t want to die! Please Lord, don’t let me die! Please, please, please!” But the decision had already been made. My fate was sealed, it was over. I gave one final scream, “NO!!!”
…Blackness was all around me…
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Two paramedics had finished their shift and carpooled their way home when they drove up to the accident. Their training immediately kicked in. They tended to me to see if I was still alive when they believed that I had an obstruction of my airpath and they prepared to do an emergency tracheotomy but just as they were to make an incision I gasp and took a deep breath. Since I have no memory of this I am referring to eyewitness accounts and the SCDOT report. As they prepared me for the ambulance I was insisting that they let me walk home but they wouldn’t let me move. When they got me inside the ambulance the state trooper asked for my name and where I was from. I told him, “My name is J.R. and I’m from Dallas.” Which was true but he didn’t believe me and insisted that they get me to the emergency room quickly, ” ’cause this guy thinks he’s J.R. Ewing from Dallas.” A character from a popular ’80s TV show. My daughter commented later, “See what happens when you tell the truth. Nobody believes you.”
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Darkness was still around me even though my family told me that I was up and awake while recovering at the hospital and when they brought me home I rested but according to my wife, she would look into my eyes and could see that I was not there. Surrounded by the darkness I awaited my fate then in the distance I saw a light. Small at first but it slowly began to get bigger until it fully enveloped me. When my eyes focused I found myself at home in our bedroom with my wife, daughter and the family dogs watching over me. I asked, “What’s going on?” “Ok,” as my wife rolled her eyes and replied, “for the umpteenth time…you were in a motorcycle accident.” I looked at her in disbelief but after they filled me in it confirmed all that I experienced.
My journey was not over. The Lord came to me while I was lying on the ground dying. He loved me so much that He brought me back so that I could continue a work He was commissioning me to accomplish. The message He gave me was clear but it took me some time for it to clarify in my heart. On one of my follow up exams my doctor said to me, “Mr. Infante, you are giving me the proof that there is a God. When I read your charts, look at your x-rays and review the extensive head trauma you received, there is no way you should be alive. Surely God had His angels watching over you.” My journey was not over. This also meant that my trials were not over as well.
Midland, Texas
Failing health, a broken marriage that led to a divorce, an unexpected loss of a loved one and a relocation back to Midland, Texas made me wonder if I would ever be used by God again…but I kept praying and believing. One night I got a friend request on Facebook from my daughter. Miraculously God opened a door for me to reconnect with my daughter and it led to me moving back to Atlanta, Georgia. Because this happened, it also led to a friendly reconnection with my now ex-wife who had just adopted a baby boy. As the days progressed my health was getting worse and eventually I had some complications with my left leg and required an amputation above my left knee. In the midst of this I suffered my first heart attack.
Corpus Christi, Texas
After the amputation and heart by-pass surgery I traveled back to Corpus Christi, Texas to recover and focus on my health, pray and seek God’s guidance for my future. I missed my daughter but I was relieved to know that my ex-wife and I were friends again. I began to think that I had met my ‘Waterloo’ and the end of the road. Out of the blue I got a phone call from my ex-wife and she told me about an opportunity to write for a podcast being produced in California. The producers had made the offer to her but she had a full schedule and thought that maybe I would be interested. I wrote a couple of well received articles but soon discovered that I was getting a lot of responses when I posted the articles on my Facebook page. So I created a page and at that moment The Topical Wave was born. The Lord had opened a door and made it possible for my ex-wife and I to work together again.
The church and the world has been lulled to sleep and now politics is the word and not the Word of God. The message the Lord had said to me on that night of the accident quickly came into focus. The Word of God is His voice and the world needs to know that the time is now to turn away from their evil ways and repent before they find themselves in complete darkness awaiting the final judgement.
I have been blessed to be a part of something that has reached over 80 countries and lives changed for the Kingdom of God. The battle with the enemy continues but it’s a war he will never win. Despite a second heart attack and 6 weeks on dialysis, the Lord healed my kidneys and I feel stronger everyday. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour. He gives me strength and I have put all my trust in Him. I pray that the Gospel will be preached in all the nations of the world and I am so blessed to be involved in His Great Commission.
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV — “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
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