When I first met Brenda, she was involved with a Campus Life group known as Stateline Youth for Christ. The group was led by Dick Myers. Dick was an energetic individual with a talent for organizing creative events to bring high school kids together in Christian settings. Every year, Dick would take a bus load of kids to Camp Forest Springs in Northern Wisconsin for several days of skiing, music, and special speakers.
On one such trip, Brenda and I were going as Campus Life staff. After packing the bus with sleeping bags and high school kids, we were ready to go. Dick led us in a prayer for safety and God's blessing. The bus then headed North. The trip was long, and we traveled almost the entire length of Wisconsin on the old Highway 51, passing through many miles of small towns on snowy roads to reach the camp. But soon a near disaster and a little miracle would become a memorable experience.
It happened after the week ended on the trip home.
Gas stations were few. Eventually the bus driver slowed to turn in for gas. But what he thought was a right turn lane was actually just a ditch packed with snow that the plow blade had leveled. Under the weight of the bus, the snow collapsed and the bus turned onto its side.
Inside the bus, there was panic. Kids screamed and fell over to our side, burying Brenda and myself under others. When the panic subsided, we learned that the only injury was a girl's scraped thumb. Gradually, we made our way out the back emergency door. It was then that someone noted that unlike the trip north, we had not prayed for safety before the trip home! Some reasoned that maybe God allowed this as a way of teaching us a small lesson, but we were also about to see a little miracle.
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Here, in a remote section of highway in a forested area of northern Wisconsin, the bus flipped over directly in front of a semi-truck towing service next door to the gas station! Within about ninety minutes, a huge tow truck had pulled the bus out of the ditch, righting it. Before we knew it, we were on our way home again, praising God for his provision!
Spiritual warfare
A short time after Brenda and I were married, we allowed several individuals to share our home who needed a place to stay. One day, when Brenda and I returned from a shopping trip we heard loud talking that sounded heated and emotional. We found one of the young men in the attic of our two story home, working out with weights and wearing headphones. As we listened, we realized that all was not well. We could only hear his side, but it sounded like he was loudly arguing with demonic beings who were trying to kill him! He sounded quite distressed as he begged them to go away and leave him alone. Brenda and I immediately backed down the stairwell and began to pray, literally dropping to our knees as we asked God to intervene.
This individual couldn't hear us because of the loud music in his headphones, not to mention we were on a lower level in the house. Yet we had only prayed a matter of seconds when suddenly, we heard him exclaim, “Thank you Jesus! Thank you Jesus!” Then, he came bounding down the attic stairs, ecstatic. When he saw us, he said, “You'll never guess what happened! I was working out when these demons started attacking me. But then Jesus showed up in a long white robe and chased them all away!” We continue to remain good friends with this man and his wife today, and he has continued on in his walk with Christ and also has left some addictions behind.
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Since this experience, I have also heard testimonies of other friends and relatives who have been attacked by dark shadowy demonic beings, which I suppose is what happened here. So, while I have never been one to get worked up about the demonic realm, this experience convinced me it is real, as is the power that is unleashed when two or more people agree in prayer. This is the kind of power Jesus told us is available. In the end, the Bible teaches that in God's Kingdom there is deliverance available for any person trapped by demonic forces, and freedom comes through trusting in Jesus. I believe that when victory is finally realized, it generally comes through surrendering one's life to God's authority, and letting him deal with the powers of darkness. •
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