When God Does the Impossible

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.” Psalm 34:4-7

Author Jamie Buckingham shared this story from the missionary adventures of JAARS (Jungle Aviation and Radio Service - the flying arm for Wycliffe Bible Translators). We pick up his story about a pilot who was fighting to keep his plane from a fatal crash:

“Never for an instant did Ralph believe they could live through the impending crash...he could feel his wife’s warm hand on the back of his clammy knuckles where he gripped the stick. ‘We do our best, God does the rest.’ It was the motto of JAARS. During all the time of the emergency, he had not called upon God. Why had he waited? Why had he not cried out at ten thousand feet? Now, with death only seconds away, he gulped the words, ‘Father, if you still have work for me and my passengers, please bring on the engine...’

It was a sensible prayer. He could have prayed for a giant hand to rise up out of the jungle and cushion his fall. He could have asked for ten thousand angels to bear him up on wings of down. But like Moses at the Red Sea, he was content for God to work in natural ways - not by sending a strong east wind to blow back the sea - but by bringing the engine back to life...The carburetor heat! It was used primarily to prevent ice from forming in the carburetor, but there were no known instances of icing at this altitude.

The carburetor heat! Again he tried to dismiss the thought, to spit it out of his mind, but it pounded against the inside of his temples - it rang in his head, and his hand was obedient. He reached down and jerked the carburetor heat handle and at the same time pulled back on the stick. The jungle had arrived. The only thing to do was to flatten his glide just at the treetops, lose as much speed as possible, and settle into the foliage - almost certainly forever.

Suddenly there was a mighty roar up front. The big prop roared to life. As if they had never quit, the thousand horses were up and running again, straining at the traces, trying with all their might to pull the sinking old Duck out of the jaws of death.

Ralph’s dignity finally broke. From the very inner part of his soul, there came forth an utterance of thanksgiving: ‘Praise the Lord’ he said with deep reverence, and then repeated ‘Praise the Lord!’”