It was winter 1999 in Southwestern Oregon. As a helper with the youth group, we traveled up for a weekend retreat with other youth groups for fellowship, learning, and good ol’ fashioned winter fun. Some of the activities had already taken place and we were now headed to a long-awaited place: a grand tubing hill out on the mountainside. There was no rope to pull you up to get to the top. This was a manual as it gets. The hill was about 150 feet up and you carried your own tube. It was helpful if you had a partner who carried a tube with you, but it was only a little easier. You’d think that after just one run climb up, you wouldn’t want to do it again; however, after going down, it somehow magically wiped the memory of the tireless climb clear from your mind and new energy to climb it was also renewed. It was a long, steep slope and, if you took the center run, you would find a hump at the bottom that sent you flying.
The leaders and chaperones told the kids to be safe but, most of all, to limit two people to a tube. No linking or “chaining” up of tubes was allowed. Well, there was one guy in the group who apparently avoided the advice. After several single runs, he encouraged a group of kids to take their tubes up and wait at the top. There were fourteen kids with seven tubes. He thought a train of tubes going down the hill would be such a blast. Who was this irresponsible person? That guy was me.
We each paired up. A fourteen year-old girl, Alli, rode with me. With seven tubes linked up and two riders on each tube, we began the descent. A train is exactly how we went down, in a straight line. The tubes began slowly, picked up speed, and even more speed. The sheer mass of people participating created a rush of speed and adrenaline until I realized there’s a hump at the bottom of this hill. There’s a huge hump with a huge line of people about to hit it!
The straight line of tubes looked like a bowling ball streaming down an alley. We hit the hump. The “ball” turned into the pins scattering violently. It was indeed a strike. Bodies tumbled everywhere. We all lifted our snow-covered faces, removing others’ legs and arms hanging over us. Actually, only thirteen of us were able to get up. Alli laid under the bulk of the riders. She wasn’t moving.
We called the leaders over along with the camp nurse. When the nurse arrived and checked Alli’s condition, I saw fear in his eyes. He told us firmly not to move her for fear of a neck fracture. However, long minutes went by, she said nothing but only painfully moaned and yet with no energy to exert it loudly. I could tell she wanted to scream. More minutes passed and it appeared as though her eyes were rolling back in her head. The nurse feared she was going into shock and, with her body also laying the snow so long, he feared her body temperature was falling. He asked us all for our jackets and with 6 men they carefully lifted Alli a few inches up so that jackets could be placed between her and the snow.
What have I just done? God, I am so sorry. I am fully responsible for this mess. And then I heard Him say, “Do you believe I can heal her?” What?! I looked around wondering if someone had whispered into my ear. And then I heard it again. “Do you believe I can heal her?” There was no mistaking it this time. I do, but I didn’t really. And the strangest image came to. He was giving me a $20 bill. “If you believe I can heal her, then you would believe you already have this in your hand when you asked me for it.” He wasn’t saying that if I just asked for money that would give it to me. On the contrary, it was an image that said if I believe He can heal her, it has already been done, maybe not at that moment, but it would be done and there would be no mistaking it.
So I prayed I believe you can heal her, I believe you can hear and then it changed to I believe you have healed her, I believe you have healed her. I repeated it over and over in my mind, and then began whispering it over and over. Finally I was praying it audibly; others could hear me. I believed I was holding $20 even though I wasn’t.
Nothing magical happened.
Instead, after twenty minutes of huddling and praying with our winter coats under Alli, we were told the ambulance was on its way and the best we could do for her was get back onto the bus and head back to camp. The ambulance was forty-five minutes out. It would need another forty-five to get back to the hospital.
The bus ride was quiet, somber. I could tell most were praying quietly, some still singing psalms and praise songs.
When we arrived back at camp, we got some of our winter gear settled in our rooms and headed to the dining room for dinner. What is happening with Alli was on mind. About an hour had passed since we arrived back at camp, we finished up dinner, and headed over for worship. This praise was different though. It began high, dynamic, and filled with spirit, but while I was worshipping I was asking Him How are you going to do this? Into the second song, one of the leaders came over to me and told me that someone in our group broken their hand. “Really? You’re kidding me.” He wasn't, as we shared a look with each other like how much more can we expect today? And then he said, “Oh, and Alli is back.” Did he really just say that? “What did you say?” “Alli is back and she’s just fine.” I thought he was kidding until just a few moments later, she walked in.
I wept in utter amazement and continued worshipping with others. Oh how great He is.
I know this story was long and I wish I could have kept it shorter, but this story came to mind after reading my life verse today. The apostles tell Jesus, “Increase our faith!” Jesus replies, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you” (v. 5, 6). You want to be confused? The disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith and he tells them that just a mustard seed of faith is powerful. A mustard seed. You can hide one of them in the wrinkles of your hand; yet, the mustard seed can produce a very large tree where hundreds of birds could perch. But that’s not even the craziest part. If you have faith that small, not only can it grow into a large tree, this faith can command a mulberry tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea. Why in the world would ever want to do that? And that’s where human logic hits an immovable wall.
God’s plan and timing are only known to Him, but if we believe in Him, trust in Him, submit ourselves completely to Him, He will blow you away.
1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister[a] sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”
Luke 17:6
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