Angels don’t always announce their arrival. And they don’t always have wings. But however angels come, they change our lives. Tammy Kline would agree.
Tammy, her husband Rich, and several others had embarked on the Grand Canyon climb. An experienced hiker (and married to one), Tammy had never had a serious problem climbing hills in Colorado. But now as the group approached Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the huge uneven steps going down the trail were about 18 inches apart. Each time Tammy landed on one, she jarred her knee and gradually the pain began.
At first, as she soaked her leg in the cold creek, she thought she would be fine. “We reached Phantom Ranch around lunch time, and I would be able to rest until our early morning departure the next day,” she says. “I kept my leg iced, elevated, and wrapped. My husband, Rich, went to the general store and bought an Ace bandage because the wrap that was in our first-aid kit wasn’t supportive enough.”
The bandage didn’t seem to help either. As the time passed, Tammy began to worry. What if her leg didn’t respond to rest? If she needed a mule to ride, would one be available? What if she got part way up the mountain, and couldn’t go any further? “I prayed all night that God would help me find a way out,” Tammy says. “This trip had been Rich’s dream since I could remember and I didn’t want to let him down.”
The next morning, the hikers were on the trail by dawn. Rich set a slow pace up the Canyon and the group stopped frequently. But the rest had done little to relieve Tammy’s pain. By the time they stopped for a break at Indian Garden, she wasn’t sure if she could take another step.
A climber named Tom was there finishing his break. He had already passed their group earlier that morning, and now noticed Tammy’s limping. “Trouble with your knee?” he asked her.
“The wrap I’m using isn’t supportive enough,” she told him, “and every time my foot hits a rock, the pain shoots through my leg.” She sighed, looking around. There were rocks everywhere.
“I have an extra compression knee brace in my pack,” Tom remarked. “Let me find it.”
An extra compression brace? As unlikely as an extra pot of gold, Tammy thought. Even so, it probably wouldn’t fit. Tammy was very small, and Tom was large. She held her breath as Tom pulled out the brace and handed it to her. It fit her perfectly.
Tom did not vanish, as angels sometimes do. He simply waved away her thanks, and continued down the path he was following. The trip was still very trying for Tammy. “But the brace, unlike the wrap, held my knee rigid and it didn’t twist every time I stepped on a rock,” she says. “We made it to the top in about eight hours, which is within the average time span. But I couldn’t have made it without Tom. He saved our vacation.” And if that’s not what angels do, what is?
For many days after this experience, Tammy could think of little else. It was such an obvious answer to her prayers. “I know in the depth of my heart that God answers prayers,” she says. “And he truly listens when we talk to Him. We just need to open our hearts so we can see and understand His answers.”
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