Riches of His Grace

Riches of His Grace
Russell Harbin’s Rescue Story

“Russell, you need to go to the box,” the teacher said to a six-year-old little boy with an undiagnosed learning disability. “The Box” was a large container a refrigerator had come in, complete with a door cut in it, and a desk, reserved for those who needed a “time out” for various reasons, those who were creating a distraction in the classroom. Russell was a regular occupant of “The Box,” already learning to use distraction and disruption to avoid the thing he knew he could not do – read. It first became clear that Russell Harbin was having difficulty after kindergarten, so in the first grade he was pulled out of the regular classroom for resource help, which turned out to be no help at all. Dyslexia kept the wonder of words from ever coming alive for Russell during those years.

He was promoted on through the primary grades and into middle school and high school, never being able to read, a fact he kept hidden from almost everyone through the same strategy of creating mayhem, and being “class clown,” but with an anger simmering underneath. This anger led to an offense that caused him to be expelled from school in the 9th grade, his 3rd year in the 9th grade. “You’re a hopeless case; you’ll never amount to anything,” were phrases Russell heard all too often through the years.

But around the same time as the expulsion, Russell had an encounter that would change the trajectory of his life forever. It was November 23, 1985, and a prominent pastor in the area, Dr. James Merritt, came and shared the truth of the gospel with a 16-year-old Russell, who knew he wanted what the pastor talked about. After experiencing the transformational power of Christ personally, Russell immediately began to share with friends what he had experienced. He went back and apologized to all the teachers and others he had offended over the years, sharing the new life he had in Christ.

When he was 17, Russell went to his first summer camp, where Rick Stanley, stepbrother of Elvis Presley and then evangelist, was one of the speakers. It was during this week that Russell felt a call on his life to preach the gospel that had radically transformed him and was soon asked to go on the road with Rick Stanley. It was Rick who would finally teach Russell to read, working with him one-on-one for hours, generously pouring into his young mentee. As they traveled over the years, the Holy Spirit became Russell’s teacher, and seeing lives changed through Rick’s messages only fanned the flame stirring in his heart.

Russell would soon cross paths with Starla Crosby, a beautiful young singer and pastor’s daughter, already traveling herself and making waves in the gospel music world. The two were drawn to each other and their mutual love for God, and married in 1993. They served for a time in the local church but felt a call to evangelism, which led to living life out of a suitcase, even after a child, Crosby, had made them a family of 3.
Crosby was 4 years old when the family joined Russell’s parents at Panama City Beach, Florida, a family tradition for as long as Russell could remember. They were to be there for a few days before heading to Tifton, Georgia, where Russell and Starla were to lead in Revival services the following week. It was August 15, 1998, a beautiful, picturesque day which began like any other. Nothing about the calm, “blue-flag” day would indicate what was about to happen.

Russell admittedly was never a fan of the water, but at Starla’s insistence, came down to the beach that morning to play with Crosby. Starla was then pregnant with their second child, who they already knew was a girl. The plan was to enjoy the beach for a couple of hours, and then travel the two and a half hours to Tifton, Georgia. Crosby was happily playing in the sand and Russell and his father had gone about 25 yards from the shore, on a sand bank. Knowing they needed to get on the road, Russell told his dad it was time to go inside and get ready. Russell determined the quickest way to get to shore was to ride a wave in, rather than trudge through the water.

So, when the next big wave came up, he jumped on it. He does not remember the actual impact, but instead of carrying him toward the shore, the wave pounded him into the sand. In that moment, his first cervical vertebra was shattered, a break that is almost always fatal. But somehow, miraculously, Russell was not immediately paralyzed. The break did not transect his spinal cord, as typically happens with these types of injuries.

Russell remembers the intense searing pain, the worst pain he has ever felt. He immediately grabbed his head, because he had the sensation it was going to come off his body. He was able to walk to the shore, and then lie down, all the while stabilizing his head with his own hands. Russell had a background in training horses and was well acquainted with spinal cord injuries. He knew he had broken his neck and kept waiting for the sensation of losing feeling in his extremities. As he was lying there, the one thing Russell asked God for, was to be able to hold his baby girl, yet to be born. He did not know if they would have to lay her in his arms, or what it was going to look like, but that was his one prayer.
A flurry of activity immediately ensued once the gravity of the situation became clear. On the beach, paramedics further stabilized Russell’s head with cervical blocks, and even duct taped his head to the stretcher, ever aware of the danger of moving his neck even a fraction of an inch. On the way to Gulf Coast Medical Center, one of the paramedics speculated that the injury was likely “just a sprain,” because normally they “pull people out of the water dead” with a break. He assured Russell he would be home by nightfall. At Gulf Coast Medical, it was determined that there was no technician to operate the MRI machine, so Russell had to be loaded back into an ambulance for transport to Bay Medical, again running the risk of a bump, a jar, or any movement that might change Russell’s life forever.
When Russell was finally able to get imaging done, the doctor delivered the news: “Mr. Harbin, you have broken your neck in 5 places. You have shattered C1, and you will not be going anywhere.” Russell was immediately moved to ICU, doctors fearing that the swelling which was sure to come would necessitate him being intubated. There’s an old phrase, “C3, 4 and 5 keep the diaphragm alive.” Any injury above this point typically results in a person being on a ventilator for life, if they survive. Certainly C1, known as the Atlas, holds “the world” in place.

The doctor at Bay Medical knew immediately that this injury was beyond his level of expertise as a surgeon. Typically, doctors do not repair these injuries when someone is not already paralyzed, so it is a very small “club” with this type of experience. In fact, the doctor said he knew of 2 surgeons who could perform such a surgery with a good chance of success, one of them being Dr. Regis Haid, who just so happened to be at Emory Hospital, close to the Harbin’s home in Georgia. Once Russell was deemed stable enough to travel, plans were made to go to Emory. Amazingly, insurance would not cover a flight to get to Emory, so Russell, stabilized as well as he could be under the circumstances, was taken on a commercial flight, where he recalls people throwing suitcases overhead, and bumping into his seat. Again, the danger of the slightest movement, with the possibility of shifting bone, and transection of the spinal cord, was a constant worry. Once on the ground in Atlanta, a family member picked Russell and Starla up and took them to Emory, since insurance would not pay for an ambulance for transport.

Russell was met immediately at the door by a team of doctors who were ready to receive him. World renowned spine surgeon, Dr. Haid, greeted Russell with a question, “Mr. Harbin, I’ve seen the X-Rays; I’ve seen the MRI. How did you get out of the water?”
“I walked out,” said Russell. Dr. Haid was in disbelief, apparently never having seen anything like this particular situation. After a successful operation to repair the crushed vertebra, he told Russell, “You are the first person I have operated on with an injury like this who was not paralyzed.” Later, in a television special an Atlanta station had done about Russell’s experience, Dr. Haid would marvel at the fact that in all the movement from the moment of impact to getting Russell to Emory, a shift had not occurred that would have led to a much different outcome. “There must have been a mighty force with him,” the doctor said.

The road to recovery was not easy, but each day, Russell made strides back toward “normal,” having never experienced the paralysis that seemed so inevitable. When the time came for Starla to deliver their daughter, Russell was there by her side. In the moment the Doctor was handing her to Starla, she said, “Hand her to him first,” sharing that moment that is usually reserved for mothers and their babies, as part of the answer to a prayer prayed on a beach months before. Russell describes holding her, not believing that it was true, that he was on his feet, and could feel the weight of her in his arms.

They named their daughter Karis, which in the Greek means grace, because grace is what they experienced in extra measure throughout the whole situation. God can use people mightily in wheelchairs and out of wheelchairs, but it is clear that he wanted to use Russell’s story as a part of a testimony of a life lived with “no plan B, no other option but to trust Him,” as Russell says. He says he has never “gotten over the feeling of gratefulness,” although he sometimes has survivors’ guilt when he sees others who have had similar injuries and are paralyzed.

Whenever he has a chance to share his story, Russell reminds audiences that, “God doesn’t need our hands or our feet – only our hearts.”

In 2019, Russ and Starla Harbin founded Northstar Family Church, located in Flowery Branch, GA.

Written By: Michelle Dowdy