Chick-fil-A president finds inspiration in brush-fire accident

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Posted 2:43PM on Thursday, June 27, 2002

ATLANTA - Seconds after being engulfed in a wall of flame, Dan Cathy was on the ground with his face in the grass and a searing pain spreading through his arms. Cathy, president and chief operating officer of privately held Chick-fil-A Incorporated, which closes its franchises on Sunday to honor God, suffered first- and second-degree burns April 29 as he burned brush on land he owns near Woolsey, in southern Fayette County. The accident left Cathy with a new perspective on his Christian faith. After his son, Ross, poured five gallons of gasoline onto a brush pile, Cathy struck a match. The vapors ignited. In a 27-page essay Cathy circulated this week to friends and buiness associates, he wrote, ``I lit that pile of brush with fresh gasoline when the fumes were all around me. It could have been not only permanently tragic for me, but also for my son, Ross. But God used this experience to take me into waters; just deep enough to receive a rich blessing from the experience, but not so deep that I was of no use to others.'' Cathy's wife, Rhonda, and Ross Cathy also wrote their thoughts of the experience. Dan Cathy credits his faith for undergoing the ordeal without fear. As Ross Cathy ran for help, Dan Cathy waited, listening to the fire blaze. Cathy spent nearly two weeks at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where he was taken by helicopter because of the hospital's expertise helping burn victims. Cathy credits God for the peace he felt awaiting the helicopter that flew him to Grady and during the painful rehabilitation. Cathy does not consider his accident a tragic experience. He wrote, ``Just the opposite; this is a marvelous experience for me. I don't mean to belittle the suffering of someone who may go through a similar, if not worse, experience like this. There were so many wonderful dimensions for me that I cannot consider this a tragedy.''