The next morning, after doing some research on-line, we figured out the problem with the bathroom. To tell you in short, there was access blocking the hole closure in the toilet not allowing it to shut all the way. I forgot to mention that at the same time the water pump went out at the same time. We decided the pump could wait. We decided we would head to the nearest town to an assisted living facility to sing for the residents. We arrived prepared to sing and were awaiting for the rest of the troops to arrive while the residents that were gathered looked at us like, “Watcha waiting fer?” We asked the resident assistant how many more we coming and were informed that those gathered WAS all the residents. There were seven of them and they enjoyed our singing. One cute lady was trying to keep up with the gestures the kids were doing along to one of the songs. It was again a blessing, I believe more to us than to them. So now the real test came…would something crazy follow?
We headed to Silver City which is the last stop before the 2 ½ hour hike up and around a mountain to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings. We stopped at a grocery store to pick a couple things up and noticed a homeless person lingering around. We offered him, Steve, some oranges and some money. It has been our experience so far with the homeless, that they are amazingly humble and often times refusing our giving. Steve, said he only needed one orange, but did accept when Nick insisted he take them all. What a blessing for us. The kids have been the look-out squad and whenever there is someone to be helped you can garutnee one of the kids has spotted them.
We continued on our route into the mountains. There is only one way in and one way out. The sights were absolutely amazing. It was a 10-15 accent which took us an hour and a desent down in 3 miles that took 20 mins! There were warning signs along all the turns (which are also called switch backs) to stay in low gear (using brakes as little as possible). It was near the end of our descent when Nick started hollering, “Brakes, Brakes, Brakes!” I had no idea what was going on. I thought he was screaming at someone outside the vehicle, until I saw him pumping on the RV brakes and all I could hear was the hissing sound of air. We had NO brakes and Nick was trying the best he could to keep us on the road and not in an accident. We finally scaled to a stop and just stayed a minute in the middle of the road with dropped jaws and blank stares. What had happened was nothing short of a miracle. If we would have lost our brakes even one turn sooner we would have shot of a cliff side at 7,500 ft above ground. We had no idea how to proceed as we had no idea what was around the next corner. How could we proceed with no brakes? Nick accelerated to only a couple miles per hour and was able to basically coast into the RV park that we had scoped out before hand. It was just 1/5 of a mile up the road. God is good. Another attack and our lives had been spared. But why? Why such the dramatic attempts by the enemy? After singing at the old age home and helping the homeless…two hours later...BAM..once again! We were told by the park manager that overheated brakes is VERY common coming down that mountain side and on several occasions he had literally witnessed people rolling into their park with smoking breaks. That night we made dinner and praised God for life. Again, fustrated…I had to wonder was it God telling us to go home…shutting the doors….or Satan rearing his ugly mug because he’s been disturbed at our love for the Lord and others? My mind was put to rest when I came along this passage:
Psalm 121-
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
AMEN!