A Strategic Rescue
See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along
the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
Pay attention to him and listen to what he says.
(Exodus 23:20)
In late November 1999 Leo Peterson and his friends, Mike and Paul, went for a two weeks skiing holiday in the French Alps. They have planned for such a wonderful vacation for months, but there were different opinions about the best place to go. But when Paul’s uncle promised to lend them a beautiful chalet located in a rather isolated mountainside near Grenoble, the young men couldn’t have no other better choice but taking advantage of that generous offer. The weather forecast was excellent, predicting regular snow precipitation for the area they have inquired about, so the young men took all the necessary equipment and the next morning left for the airport. They flew from New York to Lyon, with a short call in Paris. Then a bus took them from Lyon to Grenoble and on the same evening they arrived to their holiday’s destination.
That quiet, hospitable and warm chalet was definitely what the young men hoped for. It had all the necessary modern equipment and many ski tracks were just a few minutes away from it. The weather was just fine announcing for the tourists the best holiday ever of their lives. And so it was for the first ten days.
On the eleventh day’s afternoon Mike felt tired and decided that he would rather take a nap, while his friends will go out skiing. Leo and Paul took their skis on their shoulders and left. They have had a wonderful time skiing for three hours when Paul suggested that they should prepare to get back, because the twilight began to paint the sky in red. As they stood there on the desert ski track, Leo heard a faint voice crying “Help me, Leo, please!” He shushed Paul and they both listened. Leo heard again that voice, but Paul didn’t. Leo thought that maybe Mike left to find them and that he got lost, because there was no one else beside his friends that could have called him by name. The young men decided to obey the unwritten law of the mountain and to go to search for the person that cried for help. They thrust their skis in the snow and descended to the left, going round a huge stone rock. Leo thought the cry came from there, but Paul followed him without hearing something. Leo was amazed about Paul’s deafness, but he was also surprised because he continued to hear that voice crying with the same intensity, although it was naturally that the voice should sound louder as they approached. Soon they got near by a small opening in the mountain that seemed like a cave entrance, but that could barely be considered a rock shelter for three persons. As soon Leo and Paul got there the mysterious cry stopped. But a thunder’s deafening noise behind them told them that a huge avalanche began so they run and coiled in that rock shelter. From there they have seen the furious mass of snow and stones falling threatening down the slope.
Fifteen minutes later the snow stream and his thrilling rattle stopped. Paul was the first to realize what just happened. If his friend wouldn’t hear that crying for help, they might have been dead. But they were that incredibly lucky.
An hour and a half later, Leo and Paul got back to the small chalet. Their friend Mike welcomed them with large cups of tea, wondering that they have lost their equipment. When Leo told him about their experience, Mike sighed and said seriously “I think that God has kindly sent your guardian angel to help you two, for He didn’t want you to leave me alone in these mountains. Thank you, Lord.”
the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
Pay attention to him and listen to what he says.
(Exodus 23:20)
In late November 1999 Leo Peterson and his friends, Mike and Paul, went for a two weeks skiing holiday in the French Alps. They have planned for such a wonderful vacation for months, but there were different opinions about the best place to go. But when Paul’s uncle promised to lend them a beautiful chalet located in a rather isolated mountainside near Grenoble, the young men couldn’t have no other better choice but taking advantage of that generous offer. The weather forecast was excellent, predicting regular snow precipitation for the area they have inquired about, so the young men took all the necessary equipment and the next morning left for the airport. They flew from New York to Lyon, with a short call in Paris. Then a bus took them from Lyon to Grenoble and on the same evening they arrived to their holiday’s destination.
That quiet, hospitable and warm chalet was definitely what the young men hoped for. It had all the necessary modern equipment and many ski tracks were just a few minutes away from it. The weather was just fine announcing for the tourists the best holiday ever of their lives. And so it was for the first ten days.
On the eleventh day’s afternoon Mike felt tired and decided that he would rather take a nap, while his friends will go out skiing. Leo and Paul took their skis on their shoulders and left. They have had a wonderful time skiing for three hours when Paul suggested that they should prepare to get back, because the twilight began to paint the sky in red. As they stood there on the desert ski track, Leo heard a faint voice crying “Help me, Leo, please!” He shushed Paul and they both listened. Leo heard again that voice, but Paul didn’t. Leo thought that maybe Mike left to find them and that he got lost, because there was no one else beside his friends that could have called him by name. The young men decided to obey the unwritten law of the mountain and to go to search for the person that cried for help. They thrust their skis in the snow and descended to the left, going round a huge stone rock. Leo thought the cry came from there, but Paul followed him without hearing something. Leo was amazed about Paul’s deafness, but he was also surprised because he continued to hear that voice crying with the same intensity, although it was naturally that the voice should sound louder as they approached. Soon they got near by a small opening in the mountain that seemed like a cave entrance, but that could barely be considered a rock shelter for three persons. As soon Leo and Paul got there the mysterious cry stopped. But a thunder’s deafening noise behind them told them that a huge avalanche began so they run and coiled in that rock shelter. From there they have seen the furious mass of snow and stones falling threatening down the slope.
Fifteen minutes later the snow stream and his thrilling rattle stopped. Paul was the first to realize what just happened. If his friend wouldn’t hear that crying for help, they might have been dead. But they were that incredibly lucky.
An hour and a half later, Leo and Paul got back to the small chalet. Their friend Mike welcomed them with large cups of tea, wondering that they have lost their equipment. When Leo told him about their experience, Mike sighed and said seriously “I think that God has kindly sent your guardian angel to help you two, for He didn’t want you to leave me alone in these mountains. Thank you, Lord.”
posted by Nin @ 5:51 AM
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