The hills were covered in a thick, misty fog. Although it was the middle of the day we could hardly see ten feet in front of us. The rain had begun to fall and the cold air felt sharp against my skin. I was wearing only a short sleeved shirt and the exposure to the weather was taking its toll. And we were lost. We knew we were somewhere in the foreboding hills of South Africa but which way back home, was anyones guess at that point.

Earlier that morning Nathi and I had ridden a few miles out of town on borrowed four wheelers to search for an abandoned army barracks that sat on the South African border. Nathi knew the area well. He had grown up in Malanda, a homestead village not far from where we were going. But today was different, we had gone too far and we were at a dead end.

We had been driving along the top of the hillside and had reached the slopes edge. We were blinded to what was below but we could see it was too steep to continue riding. The rain began to fall harder and I could feel the chill seep deeper into my skin. We turned around to search for another direction and in the thick fog we got separated. I turned down what looked like a familiar hillside but soon discovered I had driven down a hill too steep to climb out of. I slowly turned the four wheeler around to try to get out, but the bulky machine refused to make the climb.

I was in danger and I knew it. I held tightly to the brakes and prayed, “Lord, keep me safe, protect my life.”  I made another attempt to climb out when suddenly the quad began to roll and it threw me off down the hill. I quickly tried to stop the rolling of the big machine but I knew right away that it was too late.

Together we tumbled down the rocky hillside out of control. Faster and faster I began falling with the quad right above me,  threatening to crush me at any time. Then in an instant, that moment came when I knew I was probably going to die. I was violently thrown by another impact by the quad and was turned, facing downhill. I could see that I was heading face first into a large pile of rugged boulders. It seemed liked there were a lot of thoughts running through my mind in that instant but what I remember thinking was, “I can’t believe I’m not wearing a helmet, I’m going to die because of it.” (Yes dad, I promise to wear my helmet from now on.) But then, I found myself lying below the field of rocks and boulders in a soft, grassy area helplessly watching the four wheeler continue tumbling several hundred more feet down the hill.

I had fallen over 100 feet down the steep hillside. As I looked up all I could see were rocks and boulders protruding out of the ground. How did I make it through that alive? I began searching all over my body for broken bones or deep cuts and although I was aching in a few places (mostly my pride) all I could find were a few minor scratches.

I found myself in a state of deep repentance and thankfulness. I knew the Lord had saved my life. I called out to him in thanks. “Lord, you are the helmet of my salvation.” I was weeping and praying as I traversed down into the deep canyon to search for the broken four wheeler. I had misplaced hope that I would still be able to drive it out of there. I climbed down into where the grassy hillside turned into thick forest and discovered the quad resting upside down in a low water creek bed, crushed and distorted. The giant ferns all around me were thick and overgrown. Standing there, surrounded by the steep walls of the creek bed, I knew there was no way I was getting that thing out of there today. But I was still lost and needed to get out of there.

In the dense fog I climbed back up the mountain searching for something that might tell me where I was but I had no point of reference to begin with. I walked for what seemed like hours and in just a brief moment, the fog opened up and I could see one of the buildings from the army barracks in the distance. As I made my way over I found Nathi, walking the hills looking for me. I had made it out of there alive.

When I told the story to my family the following day, my mother and my aunt both said they felt a need to pray for my safety the day before. During her prayer my aunt Rita was given Psalm 91, (I will only quote a portion of it here)

“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.”

Satan tried to take my life that day. But I was rescued by the angels of the Lord. There is no way I could have fallen over 100 feet down that steep hillside through all the rocks and boulders and not be severely injured or killed. Unless, of course, the Lord intervened on my behalf. And He did.

Thank you Lord for saving my life. I pray my life would be worthy of your rescue.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 12:29 am and is filed under Jason and Cara. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.