Keep Your Body Straight...I Will Carry You Through!

Does God still speak to us today? My niece, Kinley, would say, "Yes, He does!" If so, is it audible. To Kinley, the voice was as real as the voice of her Mom or Dad talking to her.

May 15 started like any other day for my sister, Vicki, and her family. They woke up, ate breakfast, got dressed, and started the day like every other. The only difference was the scene outside their front door when they got up that morning.

Three of the children went off to school while Vicki began her morning routine with Landon, her five year old son. Within the hour, the school was closed for the day due to the flooding, sending Vicki's kids home excited and ready to play in their new "front yard pond"! As in awe as her children over the scene, Vicki was right there with them, taking pictures and playing.

Who wouldn't have done the same thing? Didn't we all play in a ditch at one time or another growing up? How much more exciting and enticing to have an entire yard to "swim" in?!? For Vicki and her family, this excitement soon turned into terror...for in the blink of an eye...Kinley was missing. One minute she was laughing and exploring...the next minute she could not be found. Panic ensued as everyone froze in place, unsure of where to look and how to find Kinley in the strange water that had become their front yard....everyone, that is, but Vicki. She ran. She ran towards the last place she had seen Kinley. She ran towards something that was unimaginable, yet inevitable. She had her eye on the culvert that was at that very moment, draining her yard to the ditch on the other side of the road...that had, without a doubt, sucked Kinley in. She ran towards it knowing in her heart that Kinley could not possible fit through it. She ran towards it knowing that she would go in to save her baby, even if it meant that she never came out.

God had other plans. Chills cover my body everytime I recall her description of how she fell on the way to that culvert..."It was as if I ran into a wall...as if someone tripped me." As she struggled to get up, she heard God whisper, "No, stay away. I've got her!" As Vicki regained her footing and stood up, she saw Kinley shoot out of the culvert and into the ditch on the other side of the road. Vicki doesn't remember getting from that point to the moment when she touched Kinley...pulled her from the water and stared into her bloodshot eyes and terror stricken face. Her baby girl was alive....God carried her through that tunnel as sure as he had told Kinley that he would.

Today, Kinley doesn't remember very much about her journey through that culvert, but during those first moments after being saved, she was able to recall in chilling details what happened.

Drawn to a spot in the water that looked as if it were a whirlpool, Kinley walked over to explore it. Immediately, it sucked her under. She came up long enough to yell "help me" before being taken under again. She remembered being pulled into the culvert and hanging onto the rim of it, as anyone would have done. Most 9 year olds, I believe, would have struggled at the entrance of that culvert, hanging on for dear life until life slipped from them. This is what Kinley was doing when she heard God speak, "Don't fight it. Just keep your body straight, and you will come out the other side." As she allowed her fingers to slip away, she also let go of all control over her body and her life. Instead of clinging to her life, she cleaved to God and His promise. Halfway through the dark tunnel, she recalled slowing down to a near stop while a bright light flooded the darkness. In her mind, the light was an indication that she was nearing the end of the tunnel. In retrospect, she understands that her face was turned away from the exit and her eyes were closed. She would not have seen a light from the outside world, even if she were in reach of it.

God was in that culvert with Kinley, his presence filling it with light and hope. As Kinley reached the exit, her feet were blocked by debris. As she lifted her feet up, her body shot out of the darkness, reborn into her mother's arms...a mother whom God held back so He could deliver her baby to her.

Kinley is alive and with her family today because God delivered her. It was not merely good fortune or luck that saved her. Does God still speak to us today?

Ask Kinley.