March 25, 2025 • 20 mins
In this powerful episode, we sit down with Dr. Jason Kolb, an Akron native and former ER doctor, whose life was forever changed by a tragic skiing accident. Dr. Kolb opens up about his journey of faith, how the accident reshaped his life, and the unwavering love he found for Jesus through it all. His story is one of resilience, hope, and how God can turn even the most difficult circumstances into a platform to glorify Him.
Don’t miss this incredible conversation about overcoming adversity and finding strength in faith!
Learn more about Jason's incredible story at drjasonkolb.com
Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshow/wcrf
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:30):
Suffering is a part of the Christian life, but some
suffer more than others, and it can be a challenge
to maintain your faith in Christ in the midst of suffering.
And we're going to chat about that very issue with
a new friend of the show. We talked about him
a couple of weeks ago. Now. We thought, why not
talk actually to him? Doctor Jason Kolb, who's a Northeast
(00:51):
Ohio native living in Kent, former, well, current Wtxf listeners
listen all the way back since Bob Devine and practice
emergency medicine for over 20 years. Welcome, Doctor Kolb.
S2 (01:04):
Good to be here.
S1 (01:05):
Thanks for joining us today, my friend. And you listen
to uncle Bob. How great is that?
S2 (01:12):
Uh, he was the best. Maybe second only to you.
S1 (01:15):
Oh, you stop. You're buttering me up. I like you already, but. Okay,
so we have so much to cover today, and we
talked about you. There's a wonderful piece in the Akron
Beacon Journal, and you've got a new memoir called Down
the Mountain to to get this launched for us. Why
don't you take us back to a ski trip you
took a number of years ago? Set the stage for us.
S2 (01:37):
Yeah. Brian. Thanks. This was a ski trip I had
been on for many years with a group of guys
from church, and even our former pastor, Newt Larson would go,
and it was a it was like a mini men's retreat,
a Bible study. We'd go to Colorado. So I'd been
going for about ten years, but I'd been skiing my
whole life. Um, so. Accident?
S1 (02:01):
Yeah. Yeah. And take us to that day where you're.
I'm assuming you go up the chairlift. You've done this
many times before and bring us to that. That terrible day.
S2 (02:13):
Yeah. So it was a Sunday. It was January 29th, 2023,
and it was right at noon. And we were just
about to head back to the condo for lunch. And,
you know, the mountains in Colorado are huge. And so
this particular trail with the two guys I was skiing with,
we would ski for a couple of minutes, stop, catch
(02:34):
our breath and then repeat. And we were towards the
bottom of the hill. It was wide open, good visibility
and um, as as I approached the lift, maybe just
a couple hundred yards away, inexplicably, I made a wrong turn. Um,
(02:54):
like you said, Brian, I knew the trail. I don't
know why I went right when I should have gone left,
but in a moment, I found myself, uh, over a
20 foot drop down to the tubing hill, where when
I crested this small hill, I saw families and kids
coming up the magic carpet waiting to go down the
(03:16):
tubing hill. And I thought, I'm going to crash into
these kids. And, you know, I was at the bottom
of the hill. I was going pretty fast.
S1 (03:24):
So you sense this is going to happen and obviously
you come crashing down. Uh, talk about that moment.
S2 (03:34):
Well, the last thing I remember is trying to plant
my skis to stop, you know, because I flew over
this 20 foot drop. And when I hit, I tried
as hard as I could to stop. And that's the
last thing I remember. I was knocked unconscious and I
tumbled another 25 or 30 yards, and fortunately, I didn't
hit anybody.
S1 (03:55):
Praise God. So you're you're knocked unconscious. What's the next
thing you remember?
S2 (04:02):
The next thing I remember, emerging from this concussion, very,
very confused is thinking that I knew something terrible had happened.
I wasn't quite sure what. I wasn't even sure to
whom I thought it had happened to somebody else. And
then it it's it's starting to dawn on me that
something's happened to me. And my friend John had skied
around the proper way. He'd gotten to my side. And
(04:25):
the first thing I remember him asking me is, Jason,
do your legs hurt? Because they were at an awkward
20 or 90 degree angle to my body. He thought
I had broken both my hips, and I remember slapping
my right thigh with my right hand and I couldn't
feel it. And so now it's dawning on me that
(04:46):
this terrible thing has happened to me.
S1 (04:48):
Oh. So then at some point, somebody calls for help,
I would imagine. How did they how did you end
up getting to the hospital?
S2 (04:58):
Yeah. So John made eye contact with the lift operator
of the tubing hill, who had already called for help,
and the ski patrol, who are wonderful, came, and they
have a sled that they put me on, took me
to the bottom of the hill, and then the ambulance
took me to the hospital there in the mountains. Many
(05:20):
may not know that when you when you ski in Denver,
you're really about 50 miles west of Denver. The mountain
range is is a good distance away. So they took
me to the first hospital right there in the mountains
to stabilize me. It's it's not a trauma center, though.
So then I had to take the long journey to
Denver for definitive care.
S1 (05:41):
Now, I there's plenty of benefits to being a physician. However,
I can imagine in this situation, it's not the knowledge
you want. So were you like, self-diagnosing, what's going on
in your head?
S2 (05:55):
You know, you said it. Well, I mean, for most
people in my situation, it would be the fear of
the unknown. For me, it was the fear of the unknown.
I knew what was coming.
S1 (06:04):
Did you like. To what extent were you able to
diagnose your injuries as you were coming to?
S2 (06:09):
Yeah. Well, Brian, that was one of the first of many,
many graces that God gave me because right there on
the mountain, after I slapped my thigh, I took my
gloves off and I unzipped my coat and I started
feeling down my chest. And when I got to my
belly button, I lost sensation. And somehow I recalled back
to medical school that the belly button is the level
(06:31):
of thoracic ten or 10. And so I told John,
I'm a T10 paraplegic, but God's grace will be sufficient
for me. And that was the second of God's graces,
is that he brought to my mind his words in
that moment to provide comfort. And it did. And I mean,
that's the promise that I clung to there on the mountain,
(06:54):
down the hill to the hospital. And ever since is
that his grace will be sufficient. And it was, is
and will be for me and my family.
S1 (07:05):
So you actually verbalize that. Can you say that that
phrase you said to your friend again, that's powerful. You're
a T10, you said.
S2 (07:14):
Yeah. I said, John, I'm a T10 paraplegic. But God's
grace will be sufficient for me.
S1 (07:19):
Oh, wow.
S2 (07:22):
Yeah.
S1 (07:23):
Praise the Lord. I mean, were you were you listeners?
Go ahead.
S2 (07:28):
I was going to say, I don't want the listeners
to think that, um, in that moment, I kind of
stroked my chin and pondered, what can I say to
cheer myself up right now?
S1 (07:39):
Right.
S2 (07:40):
No. I mean God's promises. Promises that His word will
not return void. And so the word that I'd hidden
in my heart over many years, God brought to my
mouth in the moment of my greatest need. And so
I just want to encourage the listeners as as you know,
you've been talking about suffering a bit this morning and
(08:00):
men who are suffering. And how do I lead my
family well. Hide his word in your heart. Um, that's
one of my encouragements to all the listeners.
S1 (08:13):
Yeah. Because it sounds to me like it was almost
prophetic in nature where the Lord brought that utterance to
your mouth. And I'd imagine that brought you comfort in
a moment where you were still. I'd imagine you're pretty scared.
S2 (08:25):
Yeah, I don't yeah, I want to be transparent. I mean,
there's a lot of there's a sense of panic, as
I know I have a spinal cord injury, and I
also had tremendous pain in my chest. As it turned out,
I broke 14 ribs and I was getting short of
breath and I just I knew my lung was collapsed
(08:47):
and probably filling with blood. And I also said, John,
tell them to take me to a trauma center. So yes,
but there was there was a piece, there was a comfort. Um,
another thought that went through my mind as the, as the,
(09:07):
as the ski patrol took me down the hill is
that I'm not the first one to suffer. You know,
I thought of my brother, my dad, others who have
had injuries. And I thought of Jesus. And I thought
he had a moment of suffering. And I thought, I'm
not the first one to go through this. Uh, now
(09:28):
it's my turn, and his grace will be sufficient. So
all these thoughts were Just wonderfully comforting in that moment
of panic.
S1 (09:40):
Yeah. And you've painted this picture so well. And, I mean,
I can only come within like a millimeter of understanding
what you went through. But for those listening, I had like,
a teeny tiny little fracture in one rib about a
year or two ago, and I thought I was going
to die. Like, it hurts so bad. And you had
14 broken ribs?
S2 (10:01):
Yeah. The rib cage is very sensitive, isn't it?
S1 (10:04):
It hurts. I mean, I'm telling you, it was. I
couldn't cough without pain. And you had 14 broken ribs,
so I can't imagine the pain you were going through.
But what I love is that your love for Jesus
was bubbling up in this moment. It's like, you know,
when you bump a full bucket, something spills out. And
when you were bumped, your love for Jesus spilled out.
You still had pain. You still had fear and anxiety,
(10:25):
but your love for Jesus was shining through. I can't
imagine being on the other end of this as your
wife and four kids. Can you talk to me about
how they found out and how they processed through all this.
S2 (10:37):
Yeah. So my friend John had to make that painful call. Actually,
he did it with Mike. They called together and told
Amy about what had happened, and Amy had just actually
landed in Cleveland. She had a weekend getaway to Florida
while I was in Denver, and she never left the airport.
She got right back on a plane to Denver and
(10:58):
arrived late that night and and met me in the hospital.
I don't remember that meeting. I was just coming out
of surgery.
S1 (11:08):
Oh, wow. And what does she recounted to you about
her end and what it felt like?
S2 (11:15):
Shock for sure. Um, but then as she got on
the airplane, God allowed her to have open hands as
she flew into a situation where it wasn't really clear
what what it had. I mean, I told John, please
don't sugarcoat it. Let her know the severity of my injury.
(11:36):
But even still, you're kind of wondering, like, I've seen
people walk again and and God can do miracles. So
she flew in with open hands, praying that that my
hands would be open. Um, that night when she got
to the hotel, she knelt down in the bathroom, opened
up her Bible to the prayer of King Hezekiah, who
(12:01):
prayed for God's that God's glory would be known through
the victory, the victory over the Assyrians. But she prayed
for a different type of victory. Not that I would
walk again, but that my legs would be used for
something different to to speak God's truth.
S1 (12:20):
Wow.
S2 (12:21):
And God answered that prayer.
S1 (12:23):
You married an incredible woman. Because that.
S2 (12:26):
Amen.
S1 (12:27):
I mean, that is how we are to experience these
kind of things, right? I hear about this all the
time from the persecuted church as we talk about that
in a few minutes, in more depth. Yeah, folks don't
ask for the suffering to end. They ask for God's
glory to come and shine through in the midst of it.
And that sounds like what your wife's prayer was, and
I imagine it was echoing in your heart when she
told you about that.
S2 (12:47):
Yeah. By God's grace, we met that that next morning
I was wide awake in the ICU and we both
had open hands that okay, God has ordained this new
second half for me and we don't know what it's
going to look like, but, um, we can rejoice in
our sufferings, you know that. That's what God's Word instructs
(13:10):
us to do. And I don't think we seek it out.
We don't, you know, try to find ways to suffer,
but it's inevitable. It's a promise that we will suffer.
And in those moments, we can rejoice in the suffering,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character,
and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint. And
(13:30):
so I'm here to testify that that's been true. And
I've experienced it over these past two years.
S1 (13:36):
Now, how long was the road to recovery before you
were able to be home and, you know, using a
wheelchair to get yourself around.
S2 (13:44):
Mhm. Mhm. I spent about two and a half months
in Denver. Um it had wonderful care there. And then
when I got home I would say though Brian, it
took me about a year to fully physically recover. I
mean I was 49 years old when the accident happened
and I had so many other injuries, you know, like
my rib cage and so forth that, I mean, I
(14:05):
was functional when I got home. But to be truly
as independent as I, as I am now, it took
me almost a year.
S1 (14:12):
Now, how did you even begin to grapple with the
idea that that emergency medicine was off the table for you?
Because I can't imagine you can practice emergency medicine in
a wheelchair?
S2 (14:23):
Yeah. That's right. Um. It was okay. I had accepted
that I, you know, again, one of God's graces was
right there on the mountain, and I accepted this is
his will for me in this season. He's called me, um,
and so I knew the career was over, but I
(14:43):
was looking forward to a different second half. And so
I wouldn't say that the loss of career was devastating.
I mean, honestly, I'd done it for 20 years. I'd
seen just about everything. So, um, this new pace of
life is a lot slower. Um, I sleep every night.
(15:06):
I don't work nights anymore. So there are there are
some blessings in addition to the curses of having lost
my career.
S1 (15:13):
And you're teaching medicine now, is that correct?
S2 (15:16):
Yeah, I'm teaching at Northeast Ohio Medical University part time. Uh,
I'm loving it. It's such a pleasure to help train
and shape the next generation. So that, too, has been
a real blessing.
S1 (15:28):
Now, I have a dear friend of mine and mentor
who's told me on a regular basis that pain is
God's invitation to grow. Mhm. And so you've endured a
significant amount of pain emotionally. Physically. Your life is totally changed.
How has God used that to help you grow?
S2 (15:48):
Man there's so many ways. Such a profound question. Um,
one of the ways is that it has grown me
and my family in God dependence. I think one of
the most dangerous things is self-sufficiency. And self-sufficiency is very American.
And the American mythological hero is the one who pulls
(16:12):
himself up by his own bootstraps. And I mean, we
live in an upside down kingdom where, um, it's God dependence.
That is what we should be pursuing, not our own self-sufficiency.
So when you lose the ability to walk, it's a
reminder every day that we're dependent and we need help.
(16:36):
I mean, there's many times when I need the help
of the community, so that's been a blessing. Um, the perspective, Brian,
that our bodies are going to break down eventually. And
I knew that. I saw it all the time in
the emergency department, but it's easy to get distracted. And
now I have this daily reminder. And this this body
is temporary and our lives are fleeting. And am I
(16:59):
spending my moments doing things of eternal value? And so
that's another blessing. Another one is that, um, you know,
my suffering is obvious. It's easy to see. It was
sudden and severe, but I know so many are suffering
invisibly and silently. And so it's just increased my empathy
(17:21):
and sensitivity. And I think that of my family, to
others who are suffering and motivated us to come alongside
those who are just like so many, came alongside me
in my moment of deep suffering. So again, it's this
upside down kingdom where, um, there is blessing in the
(17:41):
midst of pain and suffering.
S1 (17:44):
Yeah. And you, you articulated that truth so beautifully. And
the Lord's given you an opportunity to to live it
out in such a painful way. But who could deny
those truths after seeing your experience? And no wonder you
wrote a memoir. I mean, not everyone that goes through
an injury like that and a tragedy like that writes
a memoir. But I can see why you did. It's
(18:04):
called Down the Mountain. How can folks learn more and
maybe get their hands on this?
S2 (18:10):
Yeah, the book's available on Amazon. And then we created, um,
a website called it's just Doctor Jason called. Com doctor
Jason called com. One of the cool things about self-publishing
is I was able to do what I just whatever
I wanted and so on that website, there are tons
of pictures to go chapter by chapter and help tell
(18:31):
the story. Because it's expensive to put color pictures in
a book on a website. It was easy. So lots
of extras there on the website.
S1 (18:39):
Again, Down the mountain is the name of the memoir
down the Mountain. Search for it anywhere or go to
Doctor Jason Kolb. kolb.com. Truly an inspiring testimony, my friend,
and I hope that someday I can grow up to
have a love for Jesus like you do. That's what
I take away from this, and I hope that encourages
(18:59):
you in some way that you want your testimony to
not be about your your wheelchair, your injury, but about
how your love for Christ sustained you and is guiding
you into the future and however he would see fit.
S2 (19:12):
Amen. Thank you so much.
S1 (19:15):
You bet. God bless you. Jason Kolb. Hopefully we'll have
you back on the show someday. Uh, again. Doctor Jason kolb.
Go support this guy. Local follower of Jesus. Making a
difference for the kingdom. Down the mountain is the book
down the mountain and Doctor Jason Kolb. Com woohoo! That's
the kind of faith in Jesus I want and the
love for Christ. Lord have mercy.
Suffering is a part of the Christian life, but some
suffer more than others, and it can be a challenge
to maintain your faith in Christ in the midst of suffering.
And we're going to chat about that very issue with
a new friend of the show. We talked about him
a couple of weeks ago. Now. We thought, why not
talk actually to him? Doctor Jason Kolb, who's a Northeast
(00:51):
Ohio native living in Kent, former, well, current Wtxf listeners
listen all the way back since Bob Devine and practice
emergency medicine for over 20 years. Welcome, Doctor Kolb.
S2 (01:04):
Good to be here.
S1 (01:05):
Thanks for joining us today, my friend. And you listen
to uncle Bob. How great is that?
S2 (01:12):
Uh, he was the best. Maybe second only to you.
S1 (01:15):
Oh, you stop. You're buttering me up. I like you already, but. Okay,
so we have so much to cover today, and we
talked about you. There's a wonderful piece in the Akron
Beacon Journal, and you've got a new memoir called Down
the Mountain to to get this launched for us. Why
don't you take us back to a ski trip you
took a number of years ago? Set the stage for us.
S2 (01:37):
Yeah. Brian. Thanks. This was a ski trip I had
been on for many years with a group of guys
from church, and even our former pastor, Newt Larson would go,
and it was a it was like a mini men's retreat,
a Bible study. We'd go to Colorado. So I'd been
going for about ten years, but I'd been skiing my
whole life. Um, so. Accident?
S1 (02:01):
Yeah. Yeah. And take us to that day where you're.
I'm assuming you go up the chairlift. You've done this
many times before and bring us to that. That terrible day.
S2 (02:13):
Yeah. So it was a Sunday. It was January 29th, 2023,
and it was right at noon. And we were just
about to head back to the condo for lunch. And,
you know, the mountains in Colorado are huge. And so
this particular trail with the two guys I was skiing with,
we would ski for a couple of minutes, stop, catch
(02:34):
our breath and then repeat. And we were towards the
bottom of the hill. It was wide open, good visibility
and um, as as I approached the lift, maybe just
a couple hundred yards away, inexplicably, I made a wrong turn. Um,
(02:54):
like you said, Brian, I knew the trail. I don't
know why I went right when I should have gone left,
but in a moment, I found myself, uh, over a
20 foot drop down to the tubing hill, where when
I crested this small hill, I saw families and kids
coming up the magic carpet waiting to go down the
(03:16):
tubing hill. And I thought, I'm going to crash into
these kids. And, you know, I was at the bottom
of the hill. I was going pretty fast.
S1 (03:24):
So you sense this is going to happen and obviously
you come crashing down. Uh, talk about that moment.
S2 (03:34):
Well, the last thing I remember is trying to plant
my skis to stop, you know, because I flew over
this 20 foot drop. And when I hit, I tried
as hard as I could to stop. And that's the
last thing I remember. I was knocked unconscious and I
tumbled another 25 or 30 yards, and fortunately, I didn't
hit anybody.
S1 (03:55):
Praise God. So you're you're knocked unconscious. What's the next
thing you remember?
S2 (04:02):
The next thing I remember, emerging from this concussion, very,
very confused is thinking that I knew something terrible had happened.
I wasn't quite sure what. I wasn't even sure to
whom I thought it had happened to somebody else. And
then it it's it's starting to dawn on me that
something's happened to me. And my friend John had skied
around the proper way. He'd gotten to my side. And
(04:25):
the first thing I remember him asking me is, Jason,
do your legs hurt? Because they were at an awkward
20 or 90 degree angle to my body. He thought
I had broken both my hips, and I remember slapping
my right thigh with my right hand and I couldn't
feel it. And so now it's dawning on me that
(04:46):
this terrible thing has happened to me.
S1 (04:48):
Oh. So then at some point, somebody calls for help,
I would imagine. How did they how did you end
up getting to the hospital?
S2 (04:58):
Yeah. So John made eye contact with the lift operator
of the tubing hill, who had already called for help,
and the ski patrol, who are wonderful, came, and they
have a sled that they put me on, took me
to the bottom of the hill, and then the ambulance
took me to the hospital there in the mountains. Many
(05:20):
may not know that when you when you ski in Denver,
you're really about 50 miles west of Denver. The mountain
range is is a good distance away. So they took
me to the first hospital right there in the mountains
to stabilize me. It's it's not a trauma center, though.
So then I had to take the long journey to
Denver for definitive care.
S1 (05:41):
Now, I there's plenty of benefits to being a physician. However,
I can imagine in this situation, it's not the knowledge
you want. So were you like, self-diagnosing, what's going on
in your head?
S2 (05:55):
You know, you said it. Well, I mean, for most
people in my situation, it would be the fear of
the unknown. For me, it was the fear of the unknown.
I knew what was coming.
S1 (06:04):
Did you like. To what extent were you able to
diagnose your injuries as you were coming to?
S2 (06:09):
Yeah. Well, Brian, that was one of the first of many,
many graces that God gave me because right there on
the mountain, after I slapped my thigh, I took my
gloves off and I unzipped my coat and I started
feeling down my chest. And when I got to my
belly button, I lost sensation. And somehow I recalled back
to medical school that the belly button is the level
(06:31):
of thoracic ten or 10. And so I told John,
I'm a T10 paraplegic, but God's grace will be sufficient
for me. And that was the second of God's graces,
is that he brought to my mind his words in
that moment to provide comfort. And it did. And I mean,
that's the promise that I clung to there on the mountain,
(06:54):
down the hill to the hospital. And ever since is
that his grace will be sufficient. And it was, is
and will be for me and my family.
S1 (07:05):
So you actually verbalize that. Can you say that that
phrase you said to your friend again, that's powerful. You're
a T10, you said.
S2 (07:14):
Yeah. I said, John, I'm a T10 paraplegic. But God's
grace will be sufficient for me.
S1 (07:19):
Oh, wow.
S2 (07:22):
Yeah.
S1 (07:23):
Praise the Lord. I mean, were you were you listeners?
Go ahead.
S2 (07:28):
I was going to say, I don't want the listeners
to think that, um, in that moment, I kind of
stroked my chin and pondered, what can I say to
cheer myself up right now?
S1 (07:39):
Right.
S2 (07:40):
No. I mean God's promises. Promises that His word will
not return void. And so the word that I'd hidden
in my heart over many years, God brought to my
mouth in the moment of my greatest need. And so
I just want to encourage the listeners as as you know,
you've been talking about suffering a bit this morning and
(08:00):
men who are suffering. And how do I lead my
family well. Hide his word in your heart. Um, that's
one of my encouragements to all the listeners.
S1 (08:13):
Yeah. Because it sounds to me like it was almost
prophetic in nature where the Lord brought that utterance to
your mouth. And I'd imagine that brought you comfort in
a moment where you were still. I'd imagine you're pretty scared.
S2 (08:25):
Yeah, I don't yeah, I want to be transparent. I mean,
there's a lot of there's a sense of panic, as
I know I have a spinal cord injury, and I
also had tremendous pain in my chest. As it turned out,
I broke 14 ribs and I was getting short of
breath and I just I knew my lung was collapsed
(08:47):
and probably filling with blood. And I also said, John,
tell them to take me to a trauma center. So yes,
but there was there was a piece, there was a comfort. Um,
another thought that went through my mind as the, as the,
(09:07):
as the ski patrol took me down the hill is
that I'm not the first one to suffer. You know,
I thought of my brother, my dad, others who have
had injuries. And I thought of Jesus. And I thought
he had a moment of suffering. And I thought, I'm
not the first one to go through this. Uh, now
(09:28):
it's my turn, and his grace will be sufficient. So
all these thoughts were Just wonderfully comforting in that moment
of panic.
S1 (09:40):
Yeah. And you've painted this picture so well. And, I mean,
I can only come within like a millimeter of understanding
what you went through. But for those listening, I had like,
a teeny tiny little fracture in one rib about a
year or two ago, and I thought I was going
to die. Like, it hurts so bad. And you had
14 broken ribs?
S2 (10:01):
Yeah. The rib cage is very sensitive, isn't it?
S1 (10:04):
It hurts. I mean, I'm telling you, it was. I
couldn't cough without pain. And you had 14 broken ribs,
so I can't imagine the pain you were going through.
But what I love is that your love for Jesus
was bubbling up in this moment. It's like, you know,
when you bump a full bucket, something spills out. And
when you were bumped, your love for Jesus spilled out.
You still had pain. You still had fear and anxiety,
(10:25):
but your love for Jesus was shining through. I can't
imagine being on the other end of this as your
wife and four kids. Can you talk to me about
how they found out and how they processed through all this.
S2 (10:37):
Yeah. So my friend John had to make that painful call. Actually,
he did it with Mike. They called together and told
Amy about what had happened, and Amy had just actually
landed in Cleveland. She had a weekend getaway to Florida
while I was in Denver, and she never left the airport.
She got right back on a plane to Denver and
(10:58):
arrived late that night and and met me in the hospital.
I don't remember that meeting. I was just coming out
of surgery.
S1 (11:08):
Oh, wow. And what does she recounted to you about
her end and what it felt like?
S2 (11:15):
Shock for sure. Um, but then as she got on
the airplane, God allowed her to have open hands as
she flew into a situation where it wasn't really clear
what what it had. I mean, I told John, please
don't sugarcoat it. Let her know the severity of my injury.
(11:36):
But even still, you're kind of wondering, like, I've seen
people walk again and and God can do miracles. So
she flew in with open hands, praying that that my
hands would be open. Um, that night when she got
to the hotel, she knelt down in the bathroom, opened
up her Bible to the prayer of King Hezekiah, who
(12:01):
prayed for God's that God's glory would be known through
the victory, the victory over the Assyrians. But she prayed
for a different type of victory. Not that I would
walk again, but that my legs would be used for
something different to to speak God's truth.
S1 (12:20):
Wow.
S2 (12:21):
And God answered that prayer.
S1 (12:23):
You married an incredible woman. Because that.
S2 (12:26):
Amen.
S1 (12:27):
I mean, that is how we are to experience these
kind of things, right? I hear about this all the
time from the persecuted church as we talk about that
in a few minutes, in more depth. Yeah, folks don't
ask for the suffering to end. They ask for God's
glory to come and shine through in the midst of it.
And that sounds like what your wife's prayer was, and
I imagine it was echoing in your heart when she
told you about that.
S2 (12:47):
Yeah. By God's grace, we met that that next morning
I was wide awake in the ICU and we both
had open hands that okay, God has ordained this new
second half for me and we don't know what it's
going to look like, but, um, we can rejoice in
our sufferings, you know that. That's what God's Word instructs
(13:10):
us to do. And I don't think we seek it out.
We don't, you know, try to find ways to suffer,
but it's inevitable. It's a promise that we will suffer.
And in those moments, we can rejoice in the suffering,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character,
and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint. And
(13:30):
so I'm here to testify that that's been true. And
I've experienced it over these past two years.
S1 (13:36):
Now, how long was the road to recovery before you
were able to be home and, you know, using a
wheelchair to get yourself around.
S2 (13:44):
Mhm. Mhm. I spent about two and a half months
in Denver. Um it had wonderful care there. And then
when I got home I would say though Brian, it
took me about a year to fully physically recover. I
mean I was 49 years old when the accident happened
and I had so many other injuries, you know, like
my rib cage and so forth that, I mean, I
(14:05):
was functional when I got home. But to be truly
as independent as I, as I am now, it took
me almost a year.
S1 (14:12):
Now, how did you even begin to grapple with the
idea that that emergency medicine was off the table for you?
Because I can't imagine you can practice emergency medicine in
a wheelchair?
S2 (14:23):
Yeah. That's right. Um. It was okay. I had accepted
that I, you know, again, one of God's graces was
right there on the mountain, and I accepted this is
his will for me in this season. He's called me, um,
and so I knew the career was over, but I
(14:43):
was looking forward to a different second half. And so
I wouldn't say that the loss of career was devastating.
I mean, honestly, I'd done it for 20 years. I'd
seen just about everything. So, um, this new pace of
life is a lot slower. Um, I sleep every night.
(15:06):
I don't work nights anymore. So there are there are
some blessings in addition to the curses of having lost
my career.
S1 (15:13):
And you're teaching medicine now, is that correct?
S2 (15:16):
Yeah, I'm teaching at Northeast Ohio Medical University part time. Uh,
I'm loving it. It's such a pleasure to help train
and shape the next generation. So that, too, has been
a real blessing.
S1 (15:28):
Now, I have a dear friend of mine and mentor
who's told me on a regular basis that pain is
God's invitation to grow. Mhm. And so you've endured a
significant amount of pain emotionally. Physically. Your life is totally changed.
How has God used that to help you grow?
S2 (15:48):
Man there's so many ways. Such a profound question. Um,
one of the ways is that it has grown me
and my family in God dependence. I think one of
the most dangerous things is self-sufficiency. And self-sufficiency is very American.
And the American mythological hero is the one who pulls
(16:12):
himself up by his own bootstraps. And I mean, we
live in an upside down kingdom where, um, it's God dependence.
That is what we should be pursuing, not our own self-sufficiency.
So when you lose the ability to walk, it's a
reminder every day that we're dependent and we need help.
(16:36):
I mean, there's many times when I need the help
of the community, so that's been a blessing. Um, the perspective, Brian,
that our bodies are going to break down eventually. And
I knew that. I saw it all the time in
the emergency department, but it's easy to get distracted. And
now I have this daily reminder. And this this body
is temporary and our lives are fleeting. And am I
(16:59):
spending my moments doing things of eternal value? And so
that's another blessing. Another one is that, um, you know,
my suffering is obvious. It's easy to see. It was
sudden and severe, but I know so many are suffering
invisibly and silently. And so it's just increased my empathy
(17:21):
and sensitivity. And I think that of my family, to
others who are suffering and motivated us to come alongside
those who are just like so many, came alongside me
in my moment of deep suffering. So again, it's this
upside down kingdom where, um, there is blessing in the
(17:41):
midst of pain and suffering.
S1 (17:44):
Yeah. And you, you articulated that truth so beautifully. And
the Lord's given you an opportunity to to live it
out in such a painful way. But who could deny
those truths after seeing your experience? And no wonder you
wrote a memoir. I mean, not everyone that goes through
an injury like that and a tragedy like that writes
a memoir. But I can see why you did. It's
(18:04):
called Down the Mountain. How can folks learn more and
maybe get their hands on this?
S2 (18:10):
Yeah, the book's available on Amazon. And then we created, um,
a website called it's just Doctor Jason called. Com doctor
Jason called com. One of the cool things about self-publishing
is I was able to do what I just whatever
I wanted and so on that website, there are tons
of pictures to go chapter by chapter and help tell
(18:31):
the story. Because it's expensive to put color pictures in
a book on a website. It was easy. So lots
of extras there on the website.
S1 (18:39):
Again, Down the mountain is the name of the memoir
down the Mountain. Search for it anywhere or go to
Doctor Jason Kolb. kolb.com. Truly an inspiring testimony, my friend,
and I hope that someday I can grow up to
have a love for Jesus like you do. That's what
I take away from this, and I hope that encourages
(18:59):
you in some way that you want your testimony to
not be about your your wheelchair, your injury, but about
how your love for Christ sustained you and is guiding
you into the future and however he would see fit.
S2 (19:12):
Amen. Thank you so much.
S1 (19:15):
You bet. God bless you. Jason Kolb. Hopefully we'll have
you back on the show someday. Uh, again. Doctor Jason kolb.
Go support this guy. Local follower of Jesus. Making a
difference for the kingdom. Down the mountain is the book
down the mountain and Doctor Jason Kolb. Com woohoo! That's
the kind of faith in Jesus I want and the
love for Christ. Lord have mercy.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.