LEXINGTON, S.C. — Hundreds gathered to pray for healing on Sunday as a Lexington County teen headed into surgery hundreds of miles away following a life-threatening accident in Hawaii.
It's been a stressful week for John Reeves, the leader and pastor at RADIUS church. On Thursday, somebody told him about the car wreck that hospitalized Jacob Smith and two of his children, who are church members.
Smith is also the principal at River Bluff High School in Lexington. The family was on vacation in Hawaii when, according to Hawaii police, their car hydroplaned and hit another vehicle.
"You try to process as fast as you can. And my natural instinct, all of ours is, we want to do something with our hands and our feet to be able to help," Reeves said. "And yet, the Smiths are all the way in Hawaii, so there's not a lot of help that we can other than network."
As a result of the wreck, Smith's daughter, Bekah, was severely hurt, injuring part of her spine and causing a brain bleed. Reeves said doctors had told the family it was a miracle the result wasn't worse, and she had surgery on Sunday.
"Evidently when you fracture that, often times it leads to death so, yeah, we're celebrating the miracle of her being alive but we're really asking the lord to complete that miracle," he said. "We'll know a lot more after the surgery and after the determine what type of progress they've made."
On Sunday, the church hosted a space for the congregation to pray over the smiths and Bekah's surgery. Being so far away physically, Reeves says the church sent two members to Hawaii to care for the Smiths and communicate back home.
He said a newly created page is providing regular updates on her condition. The latest update was that Bekah's most recent surgy was suspenseful.
Reeves said despite what's happened, the family is still full of hope and faith-
"Even though they're suffering, they see Jesus in it, and they want him to get glory even on their worst day," Reeves said. "It's been cool to watch them interact on the phone and keep pointing to Jesus."