February 23, 2024
The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. ~ Psalm 145:14 NLT
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
One minute I was on the snow-tubing conveyor belt. The next moment, I was laying on my side in mud and snow. Seconds later, a very tall man and very tall woman were at my side, to see if I was OK, and to help me back up on the conveyor belt.
Here’s what happened. I took our two youngest granddaughters snow-tubing at Bryce Resort. It was the first time for all of us. I’d been informed about the “conveyor belt” that transported tubers to the summit. What I didn’t know was that we had to pull our tubes from the bottom uphill to where the conveyor belt started. Nor did I know how heavy the tubes were. The younger granddaughter had difficulty pulling her tube, so I offered to add it to my load.
We managed to get onto the conveyor belt which was a bit like stepping onto a moving walkway at an airport with only two rows of clothesline strung between two-by-fours along both sides. A third of the way up the hill, one of my tubes began to slip off the conveyor belt. I reached for it and tube and I both fell off and landed on mud and snow three feet below.
My rescuers checked that I was OK, and then helped me climb back on the conveyor belt. “Thanks!” I said. It wasn’t until after the conveyor belt started it again that I realized the hearing aid in my right ear had fallen out when I fell. Snowtubing’s price soared to over $1500. “Help!” was the plea on my lips and in my heart. I asked the attendant at the top of the slope to enlist help to find it. The girls and I got on our tubes, and flew down the hill, one of us screaming (that would be me) until we stopped at the bottom.
The girls hopped off their tubes. I rolled off like a bug on its back, managed to stand up, and we headed towards the conveyor belt of agony. I had them wait while I walked up the slope to meet the two young men who are diligently searching for my hearing aid. They said they’d looked everywhere, but hadn’t found it. For some reason, it just so happens, I looked down, and there, peeking out of the mud right next to my boot, was the still-perfectly-working hearing aid. “Wow!”
I told the girls that I had prayed on the way to the top that it would be found, and it was. Almost ten-year-old Anne-Sophie said, “Nana, that’s probably because you’ve been a pastor at six churches.” I replied, “No, honey. It was because I was desperate.”
It just so happens, happens all the time. Sometimes I miss seeing it, like the amazing sunrise this morning that I missed because I slept through it. Sometimes I pay attention. Sometimes it takes a crisis to pay attention. I’m glad I did!
Help! Thanks! Wow! ~ Anne
Wayfinding 