Captivating Warrior Princess † True beauty emanates from a selfless heart †

'I knew she was trying to kill me.’

This is a story of two horses, one a jet-black mare called Midnight - some would call her a ‘devil horse’ - and the other, my favourite, a gentle six-year-old palomino called Amber.

Shortly after my husband, John, had bought Midnight, I went out to work with her. I led her out, locked the stable door behind me, and proceeded to saddle and mount her. Midnight was nervous. She skittered. Within seconds she became violent. She reared and threw me to the ground; then went berserk, rushing wildly about the yard. Suddenly she headed back towards me at full gallop, teeth bared.

Already in great pain from a shattered neck joint, unable to move, I knew she was trying to kill me, to stomp me to death. ‘Lord, Lord!’ I screamed, but there was no one near to hear.

No one human, that is. Unbelievably, Amber came charging out of the stable. She hurled herself at Midnight, savaging her with her teeth. Midnight retreated, charged again, retreated again and came back again. Amber stood her ground, defending me until Midnight gave up.

And to think that I’d last seen Amber in her stall, a restraining chain across its entrance. And the stable door - it was locked. I myself had carefully slipped the metal bolt. Yet my gentle Amber had rescued me. She had overcome the barriers between her and me, and had done that with crucial and uncanny speed.

How?

By Mary Wilson

I got off to an early start. Before my first appointment, I took a friend to Kansas City International Airport and drove back by my usual route. Approaching the fork where I would turn left, I was in the left of four lanes. Then my car began to move right, almost involuntarily, as if someone had taken the wheel from my hand and was steering for me.

I spoke to myself out loud, saying, “Why did you do that?” as I continued to drive along.

My white suit was perfect for this beautiful summer day. Knowing my tendency to speed in good weather, I put on my cruise control and enjoyed the scenery. I continued down the highway, singing, when a voice in my head said, “Slow down,” I looked at my speedometer and saw I was only going sixty mph, so I thought, I’m fine, and waved my hand dismissively.

A moment later, a voice that sounded as if it came from the back seat yelled. “Slow down!”

Startled, I slammed on my brakes, which brought me to a near stop. I had just enough time to utter, “What was that all about?” when the little white car in front of me started losing control.

I immediately moved to the side of the highway, sensing a bad accident was about to happen. By the time the white car crossed all three lanes and slammed into the guardrail, going about seventy, I was at a stop.

The minute I jumped out of my car, another car stopped beside me. A man rushed over and asked, “Why did you slam on your brakes? Nothing had happened yet.” I answered, “I don’t know.” then he said “Thank you. You saved my life!” I asked how, and he went on to say “I was speeding, going about eighty-five - I’m late and was trying to make up time. I’ve had so many speeding tickets that when I saw you slam on your brakes, I assumed you saw a cop. So I hit my brakes too. I would have been directly beside that car when it started to lose control.”

Still stunned, he got into his car and drove away.

As I approached the wrecked car in the middle of the highway I whispered to God, “Why me? What do I know about first aid?”

The driver, a pregnant young woman, and her husband were sitting in the white car, both looking badly injured. Blood was everywhere. His teeth were broken, and they were crying and scared. I knew we need help and an ambulance.

A car stopped, and a woman asked, “What do you need?” I answered, “We need to call the police and an ambulance. These two people are badly injured!” she drove away to find a roadside phone.

As I walked back to the couple to tell them help was on the way, someone yelled from a passing car: “You’ve got to get them out. There’s fluid leaking under the car!”

I went to open the driver’s crushed door, when the woman told me it wouldn’t budge. There was jagged glass in her window, so I knew she had to exit by the door. Using all my strength, I pulled on it. Unbelievably, the door gave way.

I helped the frightened woman out of her car and set her down, and then I ran back for her husband. The passenger door was jammed against the guardrail, and an obstruction blocked the front seat. He could not slide across to get out the driver’s side. I shouldered his weight while he hoisted himself up and out the window. I helped him lie down on the road next to his wife.

He was bleeding so badly that I thought to myself: We desperately need two towels. At that moment, a woman stopped her car and yelled, “What do you need?” I told her, and she reached in the back seat for a Kmart bag, which contained two towels she had just purchased. Returning to the couple, I applied a towel tourniquet on the man’s arm and placed the other towel under his head.

They were going into shock, and I knew they needed blankets to stay warm. Another woman pulled up and asked, “What do you need?” I said I needed two blankets. She walked to the back of her van, pulled out two blankets from a laundry basket filled with clean bedding, and said she had to leave.

As I covered the man and woman, I realized I had done all I could do on my own. I though: I need a medic - I need someone right now! I look up and saw a man in a while uniform on the side of the highway, running toward us. I didn’t see any vehicle; he seemed to have appeared out of thin air. He told me he was an off-duty medic. I stepped back as he began to administer first aid to the couple.

I’m sure I looked confused when the police came and told me I could leave. My mind flooded with the grace of the miracle. I had received everything I needed the moment I asked for it. For the first time in my life, I comprehended how safe we really are. Our angels are only a whisper away, to do God’s work in our lives.

I realized I had just enough time to get to my appointment. When I arrived, I suddenly remembered, starting through the office door, that I was dressed completely in white. I looked down in disbelief. After all I’d been through, my clothing was spotless.

Diann Roche

An explorer discovers something unique

Mungo Park, the explorer, one day was stranded alone in an African wilderness. Nearly dead from hunger, thirst and exhaustion, he decided there was no hope for survival and stretched out on the ground to await death.

But then a small flower of exceptional beauty caught his eye.

He said, ‘though the whole plant was no larger than one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and capsules without admiration.’

‘can the /being who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and suffering of creatures formed after His own imagine? Surely not.’ he started out again, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled forward until he reached safety.

By Jamie bliss ford

Miracle in a wall of flames

Seeing a car wreck on the six o’clock news is one thing, but being there at the scene of the accident is another. In seventeen years as a paramedic I’ve witnessed every kind of horror. We learn to expect the worst. Our real nightmare is fire. Paramedics are not fire fighters. We’re trained - among other things - to rescue survivors from a vehicle and treat their injuries first, but if a car is in flames, it’s a non-stop emergency. You just have to hope God’s with you because there’s not one moment to pray.

My partner Tim and I prided ourselves on suiting up in less than thirty seconds: protective pants and coat, helmet and fire-resistant gloves. One October afternoon in 1993 an urgent call came over the radioed: “Two-vehicle collision. Ferguson Road.’

‘Let’s go!’ yelled Tom. We responded to the call. Tom had his gear on before we left the station. Mine was still stowed in a bag in the ambulance. Tom climbed into the driver’s seat, and we proceeded to the accident location, just a few minutes north of town. I’ll set no records suiting up today, I thought, reaching for my bag.

‘Bad news, Roy,’ Tom called out as he pulled our ambulance to a stop by the road. We were first on the scene. One car, its front end smashed, was on the highway, while off on the side of the road a white car was engulfed in flames. Fire roared into the sky. I caught my breath. Our puny ten-pound extinguisher was no match for a blaze like that.

‘Two people are in front,’ I said, spotting their silhouettes amid the flames. Tom ran to the driver’s side of the burning car. I pulled on my gloves, grabbed my medical kit and got to the car seconds behind him.

Tom yanked on the door, desperate to reach the driver, whose stricken face was visible through the window. I could see the car’s crumpled dashboard pushed into her body, trapping her. The door wouldn’t budge. Just as I reached Tom’s side the flames leaped into the front seat.

Panicked, the passenger shoved his door open, falling out on the ground. His clothes were on fire!

‘Tom!’ I yelled. The two of us carried the man away from danger. We pressed his chest and back with our protective gloves, smothering the flames. Then we heard a muffled bang. The car’s windows had exploded from the heat. Tom ran back to the car while I opened my kit and began to treat the passenger’s burns.

Sirens wailed as a fire engine screeched to a stop. Glancing up from my patient I saw Tom reach his arms through a wall of flames, into the car, trying to pull the trapped driver from the car.

‘Out of the way!’ shouted a fire-fighter, moving Tom aside. Positioning a hose, the fire-fighter directed a stream of water into the car. As flames subsided, we could see that the driver was beyond help. We do what we can, I told myself sadly, returning to my patient. People say everything is in God’s hands. In my line of work, that fact was sometimes hard to accept.

With the fire under control, we had our first chance to check the other car involved in the collision. The driver was crumpled in the seat in pain but conscious. As I was examining her I heard the thunder of an arriving helicopter, and a fire-fighter came up beside me to offer his help. ‘Take care of this one,’ I said. I went back to our injured passenger. Tom and I waited until our patient was turned over to the helicopter team.

We removed our protective clothing, and then drove back to the station to clean and restock our ambulance. I was reviewing the disturbing events of the day in my mind, still hoping for some kind of reassurance. Putting new sheets on the stretcher I looked up and saw Tom. His face was pale.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.

Without a word, Tom gave me his fire-resistant gloves. Three fingers of his left glove were gone, completely burned off. On his right glove, three fingers and the thumb were burned away

‘Are you okay?’ I asked. Tom raised his hands and turned them palm up. I winced, expecting to see third-degree burns. But his hands were whole and healthy. I turned them over to examine the backs. Not a mark. No evidence of burns. I was speechless.

‘That isn’t all,’ Tom said, motioning for me to follow him.

We walked around to the driver’s side of the ambulance. Tom opened the door and pulled his protective coat from where he’d stowed it behind the seat. He stepped back, offering me the coat.

I couldn’t believe it! Both arms of his thick coat were charred black, clear up to the elbows.

‘I watched you,’ I said. ‘You reached through the window of that car.’

Fire all around me,’ he agreed, nodding. ‘A wall of fire.’

Tom pushed up his sleeves. Again, no burns. Not even the hair on his arms was singed. He’d reach through fire, but he was untouched. It was almost as if the laws of nature had changed.

‘How could this be?’ Tom asked.

I shrugged, and then spoke the answer that hovered in my mind: ‘You were in God’s hands.’

By Roy Gilliland

A young army private experiences an astonishing new world that changes his life forever