Scott Reall was shooting baskets at a park in Columbus, Ohio, when he was approached by a group of guys offering him a ride in their car. As a shy and struggling teenager, he decided to go with them, not knowing that the driver had been drinking.
“We got in a car crash doing 90 miles per hour,” Reall said Thursday outside to a crowd gathered outside of the Lowndes County Courthouse. “It threw me through the windshield. The car rolled on top of me, and it crushed me, and it trapped me facedown on the pavement.”
Reall remembers the entire accident, as he was awake the entire time.
“I lost my nose, my eye,” Reall said. “I was drowning in my own pool of blood. And I called out to God for the first time. My only hope, if he would save me.”
While Reall’s face has since been reconstructed, he told the story of how he went from those injuries to writing five books about recovery and becoming the executive director of Tennessee-based Restore Ministries during the Christian Community in Prayer’s 14th annual celebration of the National Day of Prayer.
In 1952, a joint resolution of Congress declared there would be an annual day of prayer. The law was amended in 1988, permanently establishing the first Thursday of every May as the official National Day of Prayer. About 450 worshippers gathered around the courthouse Thursday to celebrate the annual tradition.
Reall told the crowd that after his accident and facial reconstruction, he went to Otterbein University on a sports scholarship, but he never dealt with the trauma of his accident. By his sophomore year of college, he fell into a deep depression and struggled with anxiety.
After graduating college, Reall became a coach and went to Nashville, Tennessee. But 12 years later, he found himself sneaking into the Green Hills Family YMCA to play basketball. Instead of kicking him out, the staff there said he should start working for them.
Reall was hired on as the Senior Wellness Director, but he was still struggling. Then, he met a pastor who had moved to the area to plant a church, who also came to the YMCA to work out.
Reall eventually found himself opening up about his issues for the first time.
“For the first time in my life, I confided in a human being my story,” he said. “My truth.”
The pastor gave Reall a book about the 12 step program to recovery, but focused on Jesus, which he said changed his life.
Not long after, Reall noticed that the YMCA he worked for didn’t have any programming for mental or spiritual health, since the organization’s motto is “spirit, mind, body.” He asked if he could hold small 12-step group meetings in the basement, where he encouraged recovery in others.
About 10 years later, Reall said, there were two ladies in the group struggling with self harm who got into recovery with connections to a publisher. Soon enough, he was on the phone unexpectedly talking about a book deal.
“I got a call from this publisher, and they said, ‘We’d like to talk about writing some books.’ And I said … ‘I can’t even write a check,’” he joked.
But that publisher offered Reall a five book contract, allowing him to write his “Journey” series, each focused on reaching a specific goal, like freedom, healthy living, courage and significance.
“As of today, those books are in English, Spanish, Swahili, French, German, Albanian… I can’t remember them all,” Reall said. “And it’s spread all over the world.”
Reall took a moment to share a few qualities of hope with the audience. But he turned it back on them, saying that the gathered crowd was also responsible to bring hope back out into the world. He also seemed overwhelmed by the number of worshippers that had gathered to pray during the event.
“I’ve never been at anything like this,” Reall said. “This is the greatest day of my life.”
Christian Community in Prayer Chair Nell Bateman said the group invited Reall to speak due to their longstanding partnership with the YMCA, and the theme of the year’s gathering, “hope.”
“He’s been through so much, and he used that word ‘hope,’” Bateman said. “He lived through all that because of hope. And it just felt right to have him here.”
Besides Reall telling his story, the event also included multiple songs and musical performances, along with public prayers. Prayer topics included repentance, government, education, military and first responders, churches and families and more.
“When we get here, and we see others around us, it’s just exciting to see they’re supporting and praying,” Bateman said. “They have the same feeling we do. It’s very encouraging.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
