Miracle man, volunteer's survival leads to others accepting Christ

By Wendy Brown

Lonnie Rowan bent over to blow on the hot coals of a brush fire hoping to stoke the dying flames. As they glowed deep red and jumped into a full flame Lonnie stood up. That’s the last thing he remembers. He turned away from the fire only to pass out and wake up later to find his lower body covered in painful burns. As he crawled toward his house some 250 yards away, he turned to look at the fire where he’d been lying. A man was standing there in the fire—an image forever seared into his mind.
 
Lonnie prayed, “Lord, I’m ready to die right now, otherwise You’re going to have to get me to the house.” Miraculously, he made it to the house. With both legs covered in fourth degree burns, 49-year-old Lonnie had only a 1 percent chance of survival. For 18 days he teetered between life and death as doctors kept him in a medically-induced coma.  During those days both of his legs had to be amputated to keep the smoky poisons from shutting down his vital organs—one just above the knee and one just below.

Each day doctors were astounded at the progress he made, and soon all the burn center staff came to know Lonnie as the Miracle Man. When he was strong enough to be brought out of the coma, Lonnie recalled the man he saw in the fire. Now he uses that very image to tell others about Jesus. Just as the young men of Israel were thrown into the fiery furnace and saw the fourth man walking around, so Lonnie saw what he believes to be the same man. God saved him from burns that left no human hope. Lonnie promised God he’d be a witness to everyone he met; a promise he has faithfully kept for the past four years.

When it was apparent that Lonnie was going to survive, doctors told him that if he ever managed to walk again it would take at least two years of rehab working with prosthetics. Lonnie reckoned differently, and in eight months time he was walking and back at work. Every doctor that came into contact with Lonnie heard about Jesus. He told each one how big his God is, and how He was the One who allowed Lonnie to walk again—ahead of schedule.
After his many surgeries and many hard days of recovery a 15-year-old girl approached Lonnie in church one day. She asked him, “Are you going with us on the Ocoee Outreach trip to Tennessee?” Having never been on a mission trip before the accident and certainly not considering one afterward, Lonnie refused the request. This young girl didn’t stop there. She challenged him to pray about it. Lonnie soon felt the Holy Spirit calling him to go, through the faithful obedience of this young teen.

On that trip and a second trip a year later, God used Lonnie to lead several people to a relationship with Christ. On one of those trips Lonnie spent several days replacing an air conditioning unit in the home of Charles Taylor. Charles had just gotten home from the hospital and was recovering from heart surgery. Confined to bed and unable to understand where God could be in his situation, Charles spent hours watching Lonnie work on his home. Through hours of conversation, the two became friends. That week Charles surrendered his life to Christ, because he saw an injured man doing what God called him to do in spite of his limitations.

Charles says, “I’ve had many preachers come to my house and tell me what I needed to do, Lonnie just asked if I wanted to know Jesus. Later, I told Lonnie, ‘now you know why God brought you here…so Charles Taylor could know Jesus!’”

Lonnie’s encouraging story of faith and triumph is still impacting the community of East Cleveland, Tennessee, and beyond. His initial question, “How can God use me with no legs on a construction-oriented mission trip?” was answered.

Since his accident Lonnie has helped many individuals begin a relationship with Jesus Christ and encouraged countless others to take a closer look at their own personal relationship with Jesus. God has taken Lonnie, physically and spiritually, to more places without two legs than he ever went before. Lonnie is a walking testimony of how God can use His followers no matter the circumstances. He is a beautiful picture of how God in His grace takes our weaknesses and turns them into something strong and useful for His glory.