Mysterious Ways: Televised Message

Hi, I’m Edward Grinnan, editor-in-chief of Guideposts, with a true Mysterious Ways from Kerri Tillquist in Boulder, Colorado.

Kerri Tillquist was packing for a family trip to Montrose, Colorado, when she heard a shrill whistle. Rushing into the living room, she discovered it came from a program on TV.

That afternoon, as Kerri and her husband, Neil, with ten-week-old baby Leslie drove through the mountains, big, sleety drops of rain turned into heavy flakes of snow. Near the top of Fremont Pass, traffic slowed, and the couple could barely see.

Kerri nursed Leslie and then Neil pulled over and held her. ‘Is something wrong?’ Kerri asked when Leslie’s cry suddenly became low and husky. Neil handed her back to Kerri in a panic; Leslie was coughing and gasping.

Kerry patted her on the back, but Leslie turned blueish-gray and seemed to stop breathing. Kerri began to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but without oxygen, Leslie could go into respiratory arrest. Lord, Kerri prayed, save my baby.

Just then, the shrill sound of a whistle pierced the swirling snow. ‘That’s a mine over there,’ Kerri called to Neil. ‘Someone will have oxygen.’

Neil started the car and crossed the road to the gate of the mine. Kerri and Neil flagged a guard, told him the problem, and then raced down the drive where two nurses met the family with an oxygen tank.

Kerri put the huge mask over Leslie’s ashen face, and slowly she began breathing again. Later, the family went to a hospital where tests confirmed that Leslie was all right. The doctor there had one question: ‘How did you know there would be oxygen at the mine?’

The shrill sound Kerri had heard that morning was a mine whistle blowing in an episode of The Waltons. She watched just long enough to see a miner revived—with oxygen.”