He's REALLY Glad to Be at Du Quoin Fair

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ "When you dedicate your life to the Lord, you gotta walk the walk and talk the talk," says Floridian Richard George, owner of George's Fun Food, one of the concessionaires at the Du Quoin State Fair.

He's not only glad to be at the Du Quoin State Fair, he's glad to be alive.

"I'm sure not going to spit in His face after He saved my life," says George, who came in contact with an 8,000 volt power line while working at a Rockford, Ill. county fair earlier this month.

"We were setting up one of our big concession trailers--22 feet tall--one night about 11:30 p.m. I did something stupid. I climbed up on top of the trailer and raised an eight-foot tall flag. I wasn't paying attention. The aluminum pole came in contact with an 8,000-volt power line that was about 30 feet off the ground," he said.

"It threw me off the trailer. I had an out-of-body experience and when I woke up on the ground and they (fellow workers) were standing over me, I asked them, "Am I dead?"

"You are not dead, but you ARE on fire," said one of his friends.

Friends say George lit up like a Christmas tree. "It shot through my arm and my body and came out my feet," he said. George said doctors at the Rockford hospital told him that tell-tale burn "rings" under his arms are usually documented in a morgue.

"I lived. The good Lord let me live. Now me and my family are in Du Quoin," said George, his feet and hands still bandaged as the burns heal. He walks with a cane.

He says it will be another six months before he will be completely healed. And, that's a small price to pay to have a second chance.

George, from Gibsonton, Florida, says he and wife Judy--and sometimes daughter Molly--spend a lot of time on the road going to fairs and festivals.

"We have multiple concessions--funnel cakes and things like that. I have four concession stands here at the Du Quoin State Fair. The one I was standing on up at Rockford when the accident happened is over there by the beer tent," he said.

"The thing I really remember about the accident was the fact that the Lord gave me a real calming after the accident. Now, I am a witness for Him," he said. "I am thankful." He finished by saying, "I am a walking, talking testament."