This one hits close to home. This man is a dear friend, beloved member of our congregation and… my chiropractor. We almost lost him.

As Brian Carrico lay nearly freezing to death in a three-foot snowdrift on Mount San Jacinto, he said, he called on his faith to help him survive.

Two weeks after his rescue near the summit above the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Carrico, 57, a chiropractor who runs a practice in Riverside and Orange County, has a new respect for the fragility of life and the elements of nature.

Rescue teams from across Southern California spent three days canvassing the San Jacinto Mountains wilderness searching for Carrico after his family reported him missing from a cross-country skiing day trip. He was found Feb. 21 after surviving in self-made snow caves and carving two large “X”s and an “SOS” in the snow as signals to rescuers.

“The Lord spoke to me and told me, ‘I am your protector,’ ” Carrico said at his home in Redondo Beach this week. “I was praying hard, ‘Please Lord, let this night go fast.’ I had to stay still because whenever I thought of home and my wife and kids, I’d get weepy and start shaking.” Read the rest by clicking here.