Bishop Kim Brown of Mount Lebanon Baptist Church in Chesapeake, Virginia, is feeling extremely blessed that his family is still alive after the twin-engine Cessna plane his wife, children, and two other loved ones were riding on blew its engine mid-air.
On May 29, Brown's wife Valerie, their daughter, son, daughter-in-law, and three-year-old grandson were all on board the said plane headed towards Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend the opening of a new church. However, just 15 minutes into the flight, they saw smoke coming from the plane's left wing, and the propeller suddenly stopped.
"We felt the bump and heard the boom and so obviously everybody knew something was going on," Valerie told CBN News. She immediately texted her husband and asked him to pray for them. Brown, who was driving when the message came through, immediately pulled over.
"For a split second I just got this visual of five caskets at the altar, and I'm thinking, 'Oh no!'" he said. Brown added that his prayer "was not deep" and all he could say then was, "Lord that's my family. Guide the pilot, guide the plane, angels take care of my family."
The pilot attempted to return to the airport and land, but Valerie thought that it might be the end for them. Yet still she prayed and somehow managed to find peace. "It was as if God was sitting there himself, and I'm telling you, He said, 'It's going to be alright,'" she said.
The pilot made a successful landing, and even though the Brown family was shaken up, no one was hurt. "It was like angels were just holding the plane up," the pilot joyfully told Brown.
The family now believes that everybody should live a life of faith and purpose following their brush with death aboard that plane. "Be sure you're prepared in moments like this so you're not afraid—that you don't have to run to the altar and say, 'forgive me God.' Say I love you to everyone you love and ask for forgiveness and live in the moment just as if it could be your last moment," said Valerie.
