SAVED BY THE HAND OF GOD

I was a freshman in college in a foreign land. The place was Costa Ricaand what a breathtaking place it was. For the first time in my life I wasable to see tropical rain forests, mighty rivers and most impressively activevolcanoes.

It was a Sabbath afternoon when some of my friends and I decided to goto the Poas Volcano. We spent the afternoon looking down into the majesticcrater which is about a mile in diameter. My best friend and I thought itwould be exciting to take a closer look.

When the Park Ranger was not lookingwe jumped over the rail and started our decent into the crater. We gotextremely close to the center of the crater when we finally realized howdangerous it was. The clouds started to roll in and the tropical breeze beganto pick up. The smell of sulfur was intoxicating but we had to climb out ofthe crater. As the rain began to fall we began our tedious task of climbingup the slippery volcanic ash.

I was pulling my self up when all of a sudden the ash crumbled and Ibegan to fall backwards into the crater. Then just when I thought I would beburnt toast, I felt a strong hand push me back against the mountain side. AsI looked to thank my best friend I saw that he was fifteen feet to the sideof me. The hand of God saved me from destruction that day. I had been given anew chance at life, I was not going to waste it away.

Are you slipping in life today? Have you fallen in the crater ofdepression? The hand of the Lord is there. Trust in Him and He will bring youto your salvation. Do not let the trials of this world take you down. Do notlet the intoxicating pressures suffocate you. The mighty hand of the Lord isstill powerful today. Give him your heart and your life. It will be the besttrip you have ever experienced.