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Date: April 13, 2009

Whenever anyone says, "but how do you know God exists?" I remind myself of this incident.

It was a typical July day in North Central Washington. My family and I had been camping and fishing at a local lake for the weekend and we were returning home. Because of the nice weather we weren't in a hurry so we decided to take the long route which consisted of going over a short mountain pass, adding about 1 hour to our trip.

As we started up the pass the gate allowing us to pass had been pulled closed. Given it was the middle of July and the heat index was about 102 degrees my father assumed the closed gate was a prank by a local kid, so he opened the gate and we proceeded on our way. About 30 minutes into the drive we came to a tree that had fallen across the road. My father and I got out of the car and pulled the tree to the side of the road, and continued on.

As we drove up the pass we noticed that the winter snows had not completely melted in the shady areas. We laughed about the stubborn nature of the snow and delighted in the "winter" treat.

At the three-quarters mark we hit snow on the road and it quickly became a problem.

My father is nothing, if not stubborn, so he decided to continue on and prove that he was mightier than the mountain. Besides that we were running low on gasoline and he determined that we did not have enough to retrace our steps and make it back into town. As we began up a hill we lost traction and got stuck. As my father gunned the engine in an effort to get us unstuck, he used up most of the remaining fuel.

We were now stranded up a pass that was closed, so we couldn't expect a vehicle to rescue us.

We took inventory of what we had for supplies to see if we could survive a night in what was sure to be freezing⎯yes, it was cold up on the pass.

We had consumed most of the food we had taken with us that weekend. We had a few potato chips, one piece of fried chicken and some fruit. We had one pack of matches and sleeping bags but no warm clothing. We were in trouble and not sure what to do.

I walked down the road wondering how far it was to civilization. I was an athlete and in good condition. I knew I could walk a long way, perhaps far enough to get help. I was scared. So I said a silent prayer asking for guidance.

And then, I received an immediate godwink! As I stood in the middle of the road, a glint caught my attention. I walked toward the source of the light. About 100 feet down the road, was a shiny, red five gallon gas can – full! The can sat under a pine tree and there was not one pine needle, water spot or dirt on the gas can. It was as if the can had just been placed there just for us!

We filled the gas tank, got the van unstuck and turned around retracing our earlier steps.

We tried to rationalize the gas can as having been put there by someone working for the forests department, but given its “like new” condition and the unpassable conditions of the roads we felt it unlikely that anyone had been up that mountain that summer. Every explanation was easily discounted as unlikely or impossible.

I know that God winked on my family that day and possibly saved our lives. For it was through the grace of God and his love for us that we were able to make it off of the mountain.

The gasoline we found was just enough, and I mean just enough, to get us back to town. We coasted into town and filled up our tank thanking Him all the way.

Shannon Firth Williams