Badly injured, the only way for my
brother to go was up to the top. Climbing down this vertical side of the
mountain was not an option. His team came to him in the cleft and nurtured him.
When he had become stable enough, the others literally pulled him with them to
the summit of the mountain. Once at the summit he had to be taken 4,000 feet
down the hiking trail from the summit to a base camp where he would be
protected from the life threatening exposure that he would have experienced had
he stayed on the summit.
The next morning as my brother sat on
the ground at their base camp treating his wound, a lady hiker came briskly trotting
by and stopped to see what was wrong. She was a long distance runner and her
husband was head of the rescue unit in the village at the foot of the mountain.
She quickly jogged down the mountain to get help. Twenty-three hours after the
accident, a rescue helicopter arrived at the 10,000 ft. elevation base camp to
fly my brother to a hospital.
In a life
threatening situation like my brother and his climbing mates experienced, there
is no room for wondering if our Lord will be with us. We connect with Him
automatically. These men were literally hanging off of the edge of the Earth
and had to protect and deliver their climbing mate to safety.
In Exodus
33:18-23 we are told: "And he said, 'I proclaim before you the name, The
LORD...But,' he said, 'you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and
live.' And the LORD continued, 'See, there is a place by me where you shall
stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of
the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will
take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be
seen.'"
My brother
may not have seen God’s face, but he certainly felt the hand of God holding him
in that cleft of a rock. This was a gift of Grace that truly saved all four men
and gave them the skill and courage to move to a safe place. The early morning
mountain jogging lady was a face my brother was happy to see, and he knew who
sent her. He was far from any kind of population in this rarely traveled area.
And the lady’s husband just happened to have a helicopter.
Psalm 34:1-8 informs us in saying: “I will
bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My
soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify
the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he
answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor soul cried, and was
heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble. The angel of the Lord
encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the
Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.”
We cannot
see God face to face, but be assured that He will make all goodness pass before
us. His goodness is His glory. He has given us a rock to stand on that is
Christ Jesus and a cleft where we may find protection. He has shown himself to
us through our life teams and others who find us in trouble. We will be able to
see Him one day in His kingdom, but until then let us rejoice in the goodness
that He brings to us through Jesus and one another. Let us share the good news
of goodness!
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