Luke 8:23-25 (ESV)
23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm
came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24
And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he
awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was
a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and
they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even
winds and water, and they obey him?”
It was after eleven p.m. when Patti and Dan Burnett,
members of the Summit County, Colorado, Search and Rescue team, received the
phone call. Ryan, a sixteen-year-old boy had become separated from his father
that morning while grouse-hunting. Now he was lost in a wilderness area high in
the Rocky Mountains, wearing only jeans and a thin shirt. Worried, Patti looked
out her window at fog and sleet. No one dressed so lightly could survive long
tonight.
Rescuers drove to the area, and Patti felt a high level of
urgency as she and her search dog, Hasty, began to walk. "The sleet had
turned to snow, and the wind was strong," she recalls. "I couldn't
help thinking that by now, Ryan's wet clothes were probably frozen."
Hasty picked up Ryan's scent and forged ahead, but even
with her head lamp, Patti's visibility was poor. She heard other searchers on
motorcycles and above her, a National Guard helicopter. But there was no sign
of Ryan.
Struggling through the marshes, Patti thought of her own
children safely asleep, the Thanksgiving turkey ready for roasting. She thought
of Ryan's distraught family. God, please help us, she prayed. And keep Ryan
warm.
The long night continued, and exhausted searchers began
to lose hope. Then, shortly after dawn, Patti heard the unbelievable news. Ryan
had been found alive, with no sign of frostbite! But how?
Later, surrounded by rescue workers, the teen explained.
Lost in the dark and shivering uncontrollably--one of hypothermia's first
stages--he had laid down under some trees, and slipped into sleep. Under normal
circumstances he should have gradually frozen to death. But something wondrous
happened instead.
"Ryan awakened in the middle of the night, feeling
warm and comfortable," Patti explains. "Astonished, he discovered
that, although his rifle was at his feet, two female elk had come out of the
forest and were lying against him, one on either side, protecting him from the cold.
“We searchers were dumbfounded, since such behavior is completely
uncharacteristic of elk." But there was no other explanation for Ryan's
healthy condition. Later, evidence of the animals' presence was found under the
trees.
Patti drove home, exhilarated about the fact God used his
creation to Save Ryan.
How will God work today?
Dear God, thank You for the ways that you choose to
protect us. You love shows no limits and Your creation obeys Your every word. In
Jesus Name, Amen.
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