NEWTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Two men who escaped being crushed by a semi say it was the voice of God that saved them.
“We heard a voice, and it was to get out of the truck and I look down and I saw a semi swerving toward us,” Jordan Cole told WJW. He was traveling with Kenneth Bryant and several other men from Montana to Philadelphia for a pastor’s conference.
The men were bringing a MudMan food truck. It’s part of a non-profit that sells hamburgers to raise money for Potter’s Field Ministries.
“Providing food and other resources,” said Bryant, who recently returned from Guatemala and Uganda.
The men were on the Ohio Turnpike in Newton Township on Nov. 12, around 8 p.m. when the food truck broke down.
Bryant and Cole stayed with the vehicle while the others took a van to go get a repair part.
“He was in the cab of the truck and I was in the back,” Bryant said. “I was using a generator in the back to charge our cellphones.”
All of the sudden he became overwhelmed with a sort of vision, he said.
“It was kind of vivid,” Bryant said. “It was a pretty predominant thought that the truck was going to get hit.”
He immediately grabbed his phone and jumped out of the vehicle, at the same time Cole was jumping out of the front cab.
They both made it out with only seconds to spare before the entire food truck was crushed and mangled beyond recognition.
Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers who responded to the accident told WJW the men most certainly would’ve been killed had they been inside the vehicle during impact.
The semi truck driver also survived and suffered only minor injuries.
“God kept us safe, God kept us alive,” Bryant said.
The men continued on to Philadelphia, Florida and are currently in California. They were feeding people at a church Thursday night when they spoke with WJW.
Both absolutely believe they know who saved them and why.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that it was Jesus,” Bryant said. “He allowed this to happen for me to be able to share this story…for people to know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us.”
The men feel strongly that they were spared because they have a purpose in this world.
This Christmas, they hope people will be inspired by their story and realize that they’re just as important and have a purpose too.
“That there is a purpose for your life, you do have a reason to be living and it’s God’s perfect timing,” Bryant said.