In the summer of 1997, Julie Kemp, her husband Andy, and their son Landon, then 8 years old, were traveling home from church when they were involved in an automobile accident with an ambulance that was returning to its station. The accident occurred at an intersection.
Julie was able to regain her composure thanks to the efforts of those who responded to the emergency, but her husband and son did not fare as well.
Due to the extensive damage that was sustained on the driver’s side of the vehicle, the emergency medical personnel were originally unaware that there was even a third passenger in the car. Andy passed away instantaneously as a result of his injuries. The fact that rescuers saw Landon’s sneaker sticking out prompted them to hunt for his body in greater detail. They were eventually successful in recovering his body, but his mother was horrified to see that he was lifeless and not breathing when they found him.
Landon was given CPR and airlifted to the Carolinas Medical Center in North Carolina, but his battle for survival was far from finished when they arrived there. On the same day, he passed away twice more, and the attending physicians advised Julie that it was quite unlikely that he would live. Even if he did survive, he would have the mental capacity of a baby of 8 years old, and owing to the severe brain damage he would be unable to walk, talk, or eat. Even if he did survive, he would have the mind of a baby.
“I was at such a breaking point that it was all right. I would settle for it in order to keep him. Julie explained that he was everything to her.
She had never felt so alone, broken, and abandoned by God as she did at Andy’s funeral.
“I was very disappointed. Heartbroken,” she said. “And while I’m sitting at the funeral, I’m fussing at God. I don’t understand why this happened. I don’t understand why he didn’t send angels to protect us, but in the very next breath I’m praying as hard to him as I’ve ever prayed in my life for Landon to live.”
“He’s hooked up to all kinds of machines to keep him alive, and there are no signs. There’s nothing good or bad,” added Julie through tears. “They see nothing happening. I kept praying that he would open his eyes.”
And then, exactly two weeks later, Landon did what you said he would. When he emerged from his coma, the physicians were shocked to discover that he had not sustained any brain damage.
In spite of the fact that Julie was happy to have her son back, she was petrified at the prospect of having to break the devastating news to him that his father had passed away. But Landon was already aware of the situation when she asked him if he knew where his daddy was. Julie was completely taken aback by his response:
“He confirmed to me, ‘Yes, I am aware of his current whereabouts. I encountered him in the afterlife.’”
Those words jolted her to the core.
In addition, Landon recalled seeing Julie’s two other children, as well as the friend of his father’s who had passed away the previous month. Julie was absolutely FLOORED by the possibility that Landon was aware that he had two siblings. According to her, she never told her son that she had two miscarriages before to conceiving him, even though she knew that’s exactly who he saw in her womb before she conceived him.
Landon claims that on the third occasion that he passed away, he met Jesus face to face.
“Jesus came to me and told me that I need to go back to earth and be a good Christian and teach others about him,” he added. “Jesus came to me and told me that I need to go back to earth.”
Landon is now an adult, and together with his mother, they are utilizing the tragic story that is intertwined with miraculous events to tell others about the Good News of Jesus and the hope that he offers even in the middle of the most trying of situations.
“I am certain that I am doing it for the sake of Jesus. “I have no doubt that he is,” Landon stated. “I have no doubt that there are angels present. Heaven exists, that much is certain to me. I am not going to do it for someone I have never met or for whom I have no personal connection. I’ve seen Jesus. I’m sure I can find him. Because he requested that I carry out this task, I am currently carrying it out.
