Miracle on Monarch Pass

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Psalms 91:11.

Nancy and I were heading home through the Colorado Rockies after vacationing with Nancy’s family. Her folks, brother, and wife had taken the jeep up over the pass, so Nancy and I were driving the two motor homes with all the kids. Everything was fine until we started up Monarch Pass. The altitude affected the carburetors in our motor homes–they kept flooding out. Two miles from the 11,000-foot summit we pulled over again. After I got Nancy’s motor home running, I couldn’t get mine started. We had a quarter tank of gas but we were parked on a slant and gas couldn’t get to the engine. So I got the bright idea that if I could just get some gas in the carburetor it would start.

I siphoned some gas into a pressure cooker and placed it between the two front seats. I asked Isadora, my oldest niece, to help me while her sister Alisha watched the dogs in the back. She began to pour gas slowly into the carburetor. The motor started for a moment and quit. Slowly I went from neutral to drive, back and forth, as she poured the gas slowly into the carburetor. Everything was going as planned! We were actually moving when all of a sudden the engine backfired and flames shot up through the carburetor. Isadora dropped the tin cup with gas in it beside the pressure cooker full of gas.

Instantly I knew we were in trouble. We both jumped up and headed for the door. I grabbed her and threw her out but as I kicked the pressure cooker out, gas went all over me. Just as I was ready to jump out, I noticed the motor home was rolling backwards—and Alisha was still in the back. I climbed back over the fire to the driver’s seat, hit the brakes, and jammed the gear into park. But when I got back to the door, the heat of the fire had swollen it shut. I yanked but it wouldn’t budge.

By now I was fully ablaze and as I looked out the little window and saw Nancy and our kids I thought, I’m not going to make it! Just then the door opened on it’s own! I jumped out and started rolling to put out the fire. All of a sudden I felt two hands grab my shoulders, stopping me just as a part of my right leg went over a 200-foot cliff. I ran back to check on the motor home. By then the kids had put the fire out and everyone was safe. It was a miracle I was alive. It had to be my guardian angel who opened that door and then grabbed me when I was about to roll off the cliff.

Aren’t you glad God sends His angels to protect us, even when we do foolish things that get us into trouble? Can you think of a time when your angel saved you? Why not thank the Lord!

—Terry Nelson

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