A Grief, A Mountain, A Miracle – and a Banana
The narrative I am about to write is true. These events happened on Friday, November 25, 2016 on top of John Rock (elevation 2929 feet) overlooking the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education and fish hatchery in the Pisgah National Forest in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
We had a busy, wonderful Thanksgiving. The Van Wagoners and Morrises totaled 19 people when we sat down for our Thanksgiving dinner. Sometime during the afternoon it was decided that the next day we would go for a hike in the mountains. I suggested walking along Pigeon Creek (one of my favorite hikes since Marianne and Fred took us there earlier in the year). Andy thought we should climb John Rock. No kidding – something in my spirit agreed with him. John Rock was the right place to go.
We met at Andy and Laura’s house late Friday morning. We all went into their house to fill up our packs with food for lunch – we took ham, cheese, rolls, and trail mix. I grabbed a banana from their kitchen. I had eaten a small breakfast and thought a banana would be good to eat in the car. It was a ripe banana. Remember the banana. It plays an important role in this story.
We filled three vehicles – two SUVs and one van. I rode in the SUV Judy drove. As we pulled away from their house I peeled the banana and began to eat. You know how a ripe banana smells? That smell filled the car and Judy told me she didn’t appreciate it. What could I do? I ate it fast and stuffed the peel into the side pocket in the door. Bad boy!
We drove for about an hour to the Wildlife Center and fish hatchery. The trailhead is at the far end of the parking lot from the Center. There was some discussion about where the trail actually began. Andy and Laura wanted to hike from the other end of the parking lot, but I had recently (well, in May with my friend Jeff) done that hike and knew we were in the right place. Judy opened the back of the SUV so we could get our packs out. I looked for a trash can to deposit the banana peel. Seeing none, I put the peel in the back of the SUV for some reason and left it there. Judy didn’t see it.
I don’t remember the time we began the hike. It was probably around noon. Pretty soon the group got separated. The younger (and faster) members of the group went on ahead. The two grandfathers brought up the rear. The hike to the top was about 2.15 miles with an elevation gain of 755 feet. My average moving pace was 28:26 minutes per mile (I know thanks to an app called Gaia). I rested when I got tired or needed to drink some water. It turns out I got to the top at just the right time.
We reached the summit of John Rock at about 1:30 or so. I was one of the last to make it to the top and everyone was a bit frustrated – I was carrying the cheese for the sandwiches. The view was great – see my last Facebook post. There is a picture of me, Judy, Laura, and Adam with the view in the background (the mountain in the background of that picture is called Looking Glass. It is a ‘bald’ granite mountain. John Rock looks the same).
We all sat around at the top for about 20 minutes eating lunch. It was cooler on top with a light breeze. Still sunny. After lunch a few of us began to walk around on the granite mound taking a few pictures. At some point we all gathered together for a family photo that someone else on the mountain took for us.
Matt (Andy’s brother) and I were talking after (or before?) the family photo when a man in his late 40’s (I guess) came up to me and asked if I would take his picture. I said “sure” and he handed me his Nikon camera. His name was Tim.
As I looked through the viewfinder of the camera to focus on Tim’s face, I saw him reach for a small silver ‘charm’ on a chain around his neck and hold it up for the picture. After I took the picture I went closer to him to look at what he had around his neck. It was a small sterling silver rectangle. In the middle of the rectangle was a fingerprint, somehow etched onto the silver. “What is that”, I asked. Tim told me it was his wife’s fingerprint.
And then he told me: His wife had died in June after a two-year battle with cancer. They had been married 17 years. During that time they would often visit her relatives in the nearby town of Brevard, NC. John Rock was their favorite hike and they came up to the top of this mountain many times. Tim had climbed up that day to remember their time together in this place – to draw closer to her memory. I don’t know for sure, but it seemed to me in that time and in that place he was trying to hold on to her and their life together. The person he had loved, probably more than anyone else in his life, had climbed this rock with him often and to be there was, in some way, to be with her one more time.
I don’t know that kind of grief. He was sad, in pain, lonely, and even afraid on the top of that mountain. I did the only thing I knew to do – I did the thing God had called me to this mountaintop for. I asked him, “would it be ok if I prayed for you”? He looked at me, surprised, and said “that would be great”.
It wasn’t a prayer in the sense that I was asking God for something. Well, I guess there was some of that. I asked God to comfort Tim in his grief – not to remove the grief, just to accompany him on the journey. More than that I think I spoke words that I believed God wanted Tim to hear. I really don’t remember the prayer in much detail. I do remember telling him that God hates cancer, and that God is not the author of this disease. I remember telling him that he is not alone. God weeps with him. God knows his pain. I don’t remember much more than those words, but I know that there were more words. I had my arm around his shoulder as I prayed.
Tim began to weep. Almost like a dam was breaking. At one point he apologized for ‘breaking down’ as he put it. I told him not to apologize. I was weeping too. I have thought about that since – were my tears shared with Tim a gift to him? I entered into his place of pain and grief, if even for a few seconds, and in a very small way, experienced a little bit of his loss. Or did my words and tears connect Tim with God in a way that planted a seed in Tim’s heart that would grow into a new hope? I don’t know. But, in that moment there was a supernatural connection between two strangers. It was almost like two hearts became one heart – God’s power and presence flowed out of me and into him. I can’t really describe what I felt – I just knew it was a sanctified time. I can describe how high we climbed, how long it took to get to the top, the elevation at the top of the mountain. I have these facts at my fingertips. But the emotion, the spiritual connection, the shared grief, even for a moment, defy words, at least for me. But I know that something miraculous happened on top of John Rock.
Tim was grateful for the prayer. I think he was surprised at what had just happened. And it was a miracle. God orchestrated our two paths to intersect on that mountain. The right place, the right day, the right time of the day. Tim came up to me instead of twenty other people. He picked me. And I heard God command “pray for him”, and I did. Whatever words I spoke, I know they touched Tim deeply. Later I learned that Tim had driven from another state to be at John Rock at 2:30 on Friday, November 25 where God had answered Tim’s prayer – “Lord, where are you” – through a total stranger.
Our prayer was a few minutes of deep connection through the Spirit of Christ. It was a powerful, moving experience that transcended normal personal interactions. We didn’t talk about the weather, the beautiful view, or the drought and forest fires in the region. We went straight to the heart – the pain, the grief, and the loneliness that Tim was carrying in his heart. And we were strangers! That meeting was no coincidence. That is God. That was a miracle.
But there is more to the story. After prayer and a long hug, I went back to the family. “What was that?” they asked. I told them “I prayed for Tim. He is grieving the death of his wife”. “Oh”, they said. We packed up and headed down the mountain, back to the cars. I knew that I had just been in a holy space – that I had stood with Tim in a different spiritual dimension – and that God had used me to answer another human being’s cry. I still hadn’t processed all that had happened and I had my granddaughter walking with me, so I just walked down the mountain.
When we got back to the cars, Judy opened the back of the SUV so we could throw our packs in. And then she saw it – the banana peel. “What is this doing here? Throw it away.” She wasn’t angry, she just didn’t like banana peels in her car. I can understand that. There was no trash bin around us. I knew there was one at the Wildlife Center, so I began to walk toward it, across the parking lot – a distance of about 200 yards. Half way to the Center, Tim stepped out from between 2 cars. He was about to get into his car to drive back to his home state (his car had an out-of-state license plate), when he saw me.
Somehow Tim had walked down the mountain and our paths did not cross. He was surprised and excited. “I hoped I would see you again”, he said. “I wanted to tell you how blessed I was by your prayer. I know now I am not alone. Thank you”. On the top of the mountain God had given me some more words to tell Tim, but I held back. This meeting gave me the opportunity, and the courage to tell him, “God wants you to know that you will live again. Right now you are in this season of grief. And a part of you will always grieve your wife. But another season will come – a season of hope, joy, and love. In the meantime, you are not alone.” Tim told me he is a Christian, a believer. And then he shared with me some of his wife’s last words. She said “Timmy, I am the lucky one. I will see Jesus and live with Him. You will be here, left to struggle with my death”. Tim told me, “That struggle has been incredibly hard. Thank you for showing me that I am not on this journey alone”.
If it wasn’t for that over-ripe, smelly banana and Judy’s momentary OCD, Tim and I would not have had a chance to share these last words with each other.
I like to think that God used me to plant a small seed in Tim’s heart – a seed that would ultimately grow into a new life in the middle of his present grief. That seed is the Kingdom of God. Did I release the Kingdom of God into a place of darkness? Is that the seed that will rescue Tim from the dominion of darkness and bring him into the Kingdom of the Son, the Kingdom of light? Not that Tim was not already a Kingdom man. But the death of his beloved wife opened a door for Tim to be lifted out of his grief into a new Kingdom reality in God’s perfect time. Into a place of deeper understanding of God’s love and perhaps a ministry to other grieving people. In the meantime, I believe God used our encounter to show Tim, deep in his heart, that he is not alone, that he is not forgotten, and that he is loved and incredibly valuable to God.
I have written a lot about the Kingdom of God in this blog. I have written over and over that the Christian’s ultimate purpose is to partner with God to release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world, to push back the darkness, and to take back the territory; to partner with God in His work of restoration. I believe these words – but in the end, they are just words. What happened on John Rock is the real meaning of these words. God’s plan, God’s purpose, God’s power, God’s timing, God’s way – one person reaching out to another, stepping, just for a few minutes, into that person’s darkness to be the incarnate Christ to them. And leaving behind a heart that is strengthened and healed just a little bit more. A heart that now knows, as dark as it is today, there is hope for a brighter future. God cares, God knows, God is at work to heal and make whole. Hallelujah!
What happened on John Rock was a miracle – a series of events that could not be coincidences. For one thing, the outcome of our meeting required the power of God to knit our two hearts together. I had no idea when I got out of bed that morning, or when I began the hike up the mountain, that God would show up in such an amazing, mighty, compassionate, and beautiful way. Friends, that is our God and that is His Kingdom. It is all around us. When He calls you to pray for a stranger, don’t hesitate. Go right up to them and ask “would it be ok if I prayed for you?”. The darkness will be pushed back. And the world will notice.
The church defines evangelism as ‘sharing the gospel’ – telling someone about Jesus. Well, ok. That is right, up to a point. But Jesus says it is the gospel of the Kingdom of God. I would rather show them the Kingdom than tell them about the Kingdom. This day, on John Rock, I was an evangelist. God allowed our hearts to connect, not our minds. For sure Tim was a believer, although I believe God took him to a new level of faith. Can God use this event to touch nonbelievers, like maybe someone who reads this post or someone who saw what happened on the mountain and asked what was going on? Sure He can. Do you want to push back the darkness for Christ? It has to be “heart-to-heart”. It has to be in the power of the Holy Spirit, it has to be authentic. And most of the time you will be the vehicle through which this power is delivered. Personal encounters like this are not the only way – there is intercessory prayer, warfare prayer, and community action where Christians set an example for compassion and peace, among many other paths. But heart-to-heart seems to be the ultimate way of Jesus in the New Testament. Stay close to Him today, He might have an assignment for you. Hallelujah!
Grace and peace,
John
PS After I write a post, I pray over it before it before I hit the ‘publish’ button. As I was praying over this post God spoke to me and said, “The miracle on John Rock was just as much for you and Judy as it was for Tim.” And it is just as much for you, dear reader, as it was for me. God called me to write. He will use what I have written for His Kingdom purposes in unforeseen ways. Amen!