"I never dreamed being in Kingsport, that I would have such an impact on the people."
These days, it's easy for the Reverend Anthony Daniels to be warmed by the presense of people he's known and grew up with in the Model City.
It was only 3 short months ago that he saw his life flash in front of him, the result of a serious auto accident that almost took his life.
Photo by Anthony Cloud|Middlesboro (KY) Daily News
Reverend Daniels sat down and spoke with the Douglass website recently, at the occasion of a 5-K run/walk held in his honor along the Kingsport Greenway on Saturday, September 22, 2012.
"I don't remember anything about the accident.. nothing at all," he says. "Pastor Farris, a member of the church that I pastor in Barbourville, Kentucky, told me all about it, and I just didn't know anything about it at all."
"Honestly, I didn't even know I was in the world," Reverend Daniels says. "I know it was a shock when people found out and Calvin, I mean, I'm telling you.. it just didn't seem real to me."
"In a way, I think that was a blessing," he says, "because it allowed me to know that God is on the Throne. He kept me from remembering things that were too shocking."
After a short stay at the hospital in Pineville, Kentucky, Reverend Daniels was transferred to the U-T Medical Center in Knoxville. After his condition was stabilized, he is continuing his recovery at HealthSouth in Kingsport, surrounded by friends and family.
"This one would come by, and then that one. God sent them in droves. When Beulah (Banner), my aunt came by to tell me that she loved me, it just touched me. She's just amazing. And she's not all. I've been touched by all the people who have been coming by steadily. Not a day goes by that somebody doesn't come by and express their feelings and their concerns. Calvin, that's what God is all about. I never really knew how much that meant."
"You realize that they don't have to do what they do," he says. "That's what makes me so proud. I thank God that he allowed me to make that kind of impact on people that I never knew I made."
Reverend Daniels says, his rehabilitation from the car wreck is progressing.
"The rate I'm going, I hope to be back in the pulpit in the next month or so," he says, with a chuckling glance over to his daughter for approval. "And I want you to tell people through the website that they'll never know how much their visits and prayers have meant to one saint. I told my daughter thatI hope I have been as faithful to them, because they have shown me so much love."
In his recovery, Reverend Daniels has not lost his sense of humor, admitting to being a little spoiled.
"I told my daughter, these folks are turning me into one royal crybaby," he laughed.
