After Bill Rudge gave his life to Christ in May of 1971, the Lord led him to leave his job as an instructor of a health spa. So at the age of 18 he was working at Pit Stop changing oil in cars before leaving for Bible college. His boss, who despised Christianity, told Bill to use an electric drill with a wire brush head on it to clean the battery terminals. Not understanding electricity or mechanics, he did so.
Bill was only about a foot away, looking at the battery, when he must have touched the metal wire brush to the positive terminal and metal on the car. The battery exploded in his face. The pressure on his eyes was tremendous and the severe burning sensation from his eyes being filled with the battery acid was excruciating. Bill was certain his eyes were blown out of their sockets and that he was blinded. The owner of the car, who was standing several feet away, had holes burned through his coat and paint burned off his car.
On the way to the hospital Bill said, “Lord, You did not save me for me to be blinded like this. Please help!” The nurses and doctor at the emergency room rinsed his eyes for over 15 minutes and said it was amazing he was not blinded. Many years later one of our staff, Tina McDonald, was told the following account by a woman she met: “I worked with Bill when the battery exploded in his face. He should have been blinded by that.”
Equally amazing is that when Bill was only five years old he had to have an eye operation to have a small piece cut out of his left eye. In those days eye operations were primitive and he was hospitalized for a week. On another occasion a few years after the battery explosion, a glass broke and exploded in his face and eyes.
Bill is thankful for how the Lord has spared and protected him throughout his life.
Bill Rudge Ministries 