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Getting Closer to God

DW staff (jc)January 27, 2009

It was a stunt worthy of a James Bond film -- except it wasn't a stunt! A German man lost control of car, flew up and over an embankment and put his vehicle through the roof of a house of worship.

https://p.dw.com/p/GhM2
Rear end of car sticking out of church roof
Ouch -- that had to hurt!Image: picture-alliance/ dpa

Talk about getting closer to God.

A twenty-three-year old man in the Eastern German town of Limbach-Oberfrohna missed a crucial bend in the road and launched himself and the vehicle he was driving 30 meters through the air, landing atop a seven-meter high church roof.

Rescue workers were quickly summoned to take the man to hospital and pull the car out of the beams and mortar with a crane.

Police said they did not know at what speed the man was traveling, or if alcohol were involved, but one thing is clear -- the man almost got a first-hand look at the Hereafter.

Experts estimated the repair costs would run between 50,000 and 75,000 euros ($66,000-99,000), but the church survived much intact. The man suffered serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

God could not be reached for comment about whether He was angry at the man for damaging His property.

But the pastor in charge of the church showed he believed in the virtue of forgiveness. He visited to wounded driver in the hospital for what was described as a personal chat.

Hopefully, one topic of conversation was driving lessons.