Survivor stories always seem to give us hope; a reason to believe that miracles can happen even in the most horrible of circumstances. A most recent story has been brought to our attention centering on a 19 year old young man named Mason Wells, a Mormon missionary, who has unluckily been at not only one, but three major terrorism attacks in the past few years.
The first major attack was in April of 2013 during the Boston Marathon when a pressure cooker bomb exploded only a mere block away from where Mason and his father were as they were watching his mother participate in the run. Then, last year in November, he was in France, during the attacks on missionary work, but thankfully was in a different part of the city of Paris and wasn’t injured at all.
However, during the bombing at Brussels in Belgium, Mason was badly burnt as well as receiving many shrapnel injuries and a ruptured Achilles tendon. Luckily, he is expected to make a full recovery and has even done a few interviews to explain what he saw and experienced. He claims that himself and his two other missionary friends, Richard Norby and Joseph Empey, were seeing off a fellow missionary, Fanny Rachel Clain, who was headed to the states and managed to survive the attacks, despite the two gentlemen and the young lady receiving very serious injuries after the bombing. While searching for something on his Ipad, one of the explosions went off near Mason and during an interview with CNN, he said, “My body was actually picked up off the ground for a moment. My left shoe was blown off and a large part of the right side of my body got really hot and then really cold and I was covered in … a lot of blood that wasn’t mine.” After managing to locate the exit, the second bomb going off almost immediately, he did his best to assess his own wounds as he knows first aid training from being an Eagle Scout, but he was quickly taken to the hospital afterwards before living through a very successful surgery. Eight hours after the incident, Mason finally was able to call his terrified parents and let them know that he was alive, much to their great relief.
Mason has made it clear to the media how thankful he is that he has managed to stay alive through these horrific times and truly believes that God is in fact real as he said, “If there’s anything I’ve taken out (of this), it’s that there’s someone greater than us that’s watching over us.” Others on the Internet seem to believe Mason was “in” on the terrorist attack somehow. None of these accusations have been proven as of yet and no one seems to have any sound evidence that this could actually be the case. Personally, I find the whole tale completely astounding and just a crazy coincidence. Whether it’s good luck that Mason survived or bad luck for the victims that lost their lives and loved ones at places he happened to be at, no one can doubt it is truly incredible that Mason has managed to survive these attacks of terrorism without losing any hope in God. As for his own take on the disturbing event, Mason stated, “My own feelings are just for the people that are out there,” he said. “I hope that they’re doing OK. I’ve just wanted to pray for them.”
I say that whether or not you believe this is a work of God, an elaborate “set-up,” or just an incredible coincidence, there is clearly something much greater at work here.