Miracles in our midst

SOUL FOOD

God gave Somerset, Pennsylvania, a miracle.

Two weeks ago, late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, I

watched for nearly three hours as nine men were pulled alive from

what nearly became their watery tomb in a flooded Somerset coal mine.

They had been trapped for more than three days.

I lived in Johnstown, less than 30 miles from Somerset, in 1974.

My landlord, most of my neighbors and most of my friends were from

the families of steel mill workers or coal miners.

I saw firsthand their abiding devotion to these dangerous

livelihoods. The work is hard and perilous, risky beyond imagining.

But these miners and mill workers, sons, fathers and fathers’

fathers, do not easily leave it. A fierce loyalty ran among the men I

knew and among their families, too. When a husband, brother or son

went down, he was son, brother and husband to everyone.

I heard about the Somerset nine on Thursday, the day after the

accident that left them trapped. Along with thousands of others

across the nation, I started to pray for the men and their families.

I couldn’t sleep at all that Thursday night. So I prayed, then I

went to my office to work. I watched the news on the Internet.

At little before eight in the morning, I got an e-mail from a

friend who lives in Holsopple, not far from Johnstown and Somerset.

Her friend John Unger was one of the Somerset nine. Whisper a prayer,

she said -- please -- for him, for his wife and two children and for

the eight other miners trapped with him. I wrote back to her: I know

the situation is dire. I have been praying for the miracle that will

bring those men home to their families alive. I am praying for

comfort and strength, meanwhile, for everyone, for the miners and

their families, their neighbors and their rescuers. I asked her if

John’s wife Sue knew how many people had formed prayer chains across

the nation. It was nearly 48 hours before I wrote again: I just saw

them lift John out! What a blessing. I’m going to watch them bring

the rest up, God willing. Then, I tell you, a lot of us will sleep

better tonight. Early Sunday morning, after the last miner was raised

from the mine, sleep I did. God had heard our prayers and he had

answered them live on CNN. Later in the morning, it was a thrill to

see a picture of the Somerset diner sign that had just recently read

“Pray for the rescue of the miners.” Now it read “God gave us a

miracle.”

I headed to church with a happy heart, grateful for that miracle.

A couple of days later when someone asked, “What if God had let

the miners die, would you have thought he heard your prayers, then?”

I was for a moment abashed.

I had to admit, gratitude for the answer we got would have come a

whole lot harder. But, would I have thought God heard our prayers?

Yes.

God, I believe, always hears our prayers. And he always answers

them, even when he does not answer them the way we wish he would --

even when he doesn’t answer them with a happy ending, live on CNN.

“Not my will,” Jesus prayed, even as his own death drew near, “but

yours, be done.”

“Let it be to me according to your word,” said his mother Mary.

How God longs for the same willingness and confidence from us.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer and graphic designer from

Huntington Beach. She has been interested in religion and ethics for

as long as she can remember. She can be reached at

[email protected].