Some of you may know by now that my "day job" is home repair, maintenance and bath renovations. For those who didn't know, now you do! : )

I have a story to tell, one that is a hauntingly true story and one that has affected me deeper than I would have imagined. This story is about a stranger, a person I have never met and probably never will. But I have seen his blood for the last 3 days and will see it again tomorrow. In fact, I will be cleaning his blood off the tiled foyer and have already cleaned it off a door.

This man was working alone in a vacant house, locked inside with a deadbolt on the front door downstairs. Evidently just completed tiling two bathrooms and in the process of completing the final step of a new bathroom tile floor installation: Trimming of the door bottoms to alleviate scraping on the new flooring.

When working in the home repair industry, certain tasks become "habit", in which you do them so often, you don't think about what you are doing as you do them, kind of like brushing your teeth, doing the dishes or tying your shoes. There is also a time when you are working on a project and you know that you are almost completed, just one last thing to do. You are then thinking ahead of yourself and feeling a bit "relaxed" that this week long or longer project is soon to be completed. These two points are the times when one should be most in the present and aware of what they are doing. But, sometimes, it just doesn't happen.

As I was not there at the time, I can only guess that one of these two situations were present for this stranger. The floors were laid, grouted and one door trimmed and hung. The second door lay on the floor in a bedroom upstairs with blood splattered across the bottom portion, a line drawn to tell that he was getting ready to cut. Tennis shoes discarded haplessly, one on each side of the room, covered in blood. Two puddles of blood in the carpet seeped into one, covering about a 4 ft by 4 ft area. A lone coffee can with a cloth rag lies next to the door, on its side and a man, three days so far, in the Intensive Care Unit of an unknown hospital.

As I went into this room today, to clean the blood from the door, I propped it on the cloth-covered can and then it hit me. This is how the lone man lifted the door to trim the bottom. As there were no signs on the door itself of a saw blade, I can only guess that as he lowered the powered saw to trim the door, the door slipped off the can and he sawed his thigh instead. He cut his femoral artery. He had a cell phone and dialed 911; the police and paramedics arrive only to find they can't get inside. They break down the front door, raced upstairs and found a man, lying in blood unconscious. They must have put him on a backboard to take him downstairs; there is a trail of blood to show the path. In the foyer on the floor, this is where they cut his jeans off and applied a tourniquet, the homeowner explained to me. This is also where I have been working, removing the broken front door and installing a new one; walking around a puddle of dried blood and stepping over and between the quarter size drops.

This stranger got the flight of his life - in a medical helicopter. He has undergone surgery and is currently in ICU. I do not know if I will hear anymore about him, but I say a prayer everyday and send him love through the Spirit.

Please be careful and aware in the moment when working with power tools. Safety may be for the "other guy", but you never know when that "other guy" is you. Do not use a makeshift "lift" for material cutting; sawhorses were invented to aid the lone man in cutting, please use them! Please take your time and be present in what you are doing.

Thank you for reading and I ask that you be safe as I say another prayer for a stranger.