A Treasury of Miracles for Teens (12 page)

“What did he say?” His mother looked like she was hanging on every word.

“He told me that if I wanted to get rid of the demons I would have to stop the drugs. Then he told me he would help me so
I wouldn’t have to do it on my own.”

His mother lifted her hand to her mouth. “Steve … that’s amazing.”

“After that I felt a lot of peace. The demons had gone completely, and I sort of fell asleep for a few moments. When I woke
up, I wanted to talk to the man. But he was gone. No one knew where he was.”

“Is it the same man the manager says was blond?”

“I guess so. Everyone must have seen him. There were lots of people standing around when all this was happening.”

“And no one saw where he went?”

“No.” Steve blinked, grateful that the drugs were
wearing off. “But you want to know what’s the weirdest thing of all?”

His mother nodded.

“I know that guy was sent by God to warn me. If I don’t accept God’s help now and change my life, the demons will get me.
I believe that’s why he appeared to me like that.”

“But what about the blond guy? Was he talking to you or was it some image in your hallucination?”

“I’m not sure. But everyone saw the man who held me down talking to me. They just couldn’t hear what he was saying.”

“So you think it was a warning?” His mother’s voice was lighter, her expression more relaxed. “Son, I’ve prayed that your
life would change, but I never expected this type of answer from the Lord.”

Steve studied his mom, his heart overflowing with resolve. “I’ll never touch drugs again, Mom. I’m going to turn to God and
give him back his place in my life. I don’t want what happened today to be for nothing.”

“Hmmm,” his mother tilted her head. “It’s interesting.”

“What?”

“It’s a miracle, I guess. You were given a message from God the same way people used to get them back in biblical times.”

Steve was confused. “Really?”

“From angels, Steve.” A glow spread across her face. “Maybe the man who talked to you was an
angel, telling you what the Lord wanted you to hear.”

Steve thought a moment. “I guess I’ll never know. But it’s going to change my life, Mom. I promise you that.”

Steve made several follow-up phone calls to the supermarket in search of the man who had helped him that afternoon. But the
manager apparently never saw the man again. Whoever he was, he’d been available, he’d helped in an emergency situation, and
then disappeared.

But not in vain.

Steve kept his word. For the next twenty years and still today, Steve Getz has stayed away from all drugs. He has also maintained
a dynamic relationship with God, one that began on a cold, supermarket floor in the grasp of a man who was, perhaps, an angel.

L
aughter had always been the glue that held together the friendship between Donna West and Vicki Cutter. They met in first
grade and though they had their disagreements they always found something to smile about. Something that only made their friendship
stronger through the years.

“You two are more like sisters than friends,” their mothers often told them.

It was true. And never more so than the summer of their fifteenth year. The girls were excited about starting their sophomore
year at a Phoenix high school close to their homes. Every day since school let out they’d been inseparable. They took turns
spending the night at each other’s houses. And three times they’d spent the day with friends at a local water park. But one
of their favorite ways to spend the days was by hanging out at Donna’s aunt’s house. Aunt Kerry was only twenty-four and married
to a great guy. The couple lived just a block
away from Donna and their backyard contained one of the nicest pools in the neighborhood.

Besides that, there was something different about Kerry. She and her husband believed in God and even talked about him in
everyday conversations. Not just at Easter and Christmas like Donna’s parents or Vicki’s. But after a morning swim or between
stores at the shopping mall.

Donna was sure about what made Aunt Kerry different, and someday—when she was older—she hoped to have that same kind of faith.
She told Vicki as much that July day as they made their way down the street toward Kerry’s house.

“Whatever she’s got, I want it.” Donna kicked at a loose bit of gravel as they walked. “I just don’t know if I want it now.”

Vicki thought about that for a moment. “What was it your aunt told us the other day? Something about Young Life?”

“Right.” Donna tilted her head up and gazed at the clear blue sky. The day was going to be a scorcher, well over a hundred
degrees. “It’s a club that meets at school. Maybe we should check it out when school starts up again.”

They walked a bit more and Kerry greeted them at the front door. “Hey!” She smiled at them both. Her purse was over her shoulder
and she held her car keys in her hands. “I was just going to the store.” She pointed back at the house. “Three burned-out
lightbulbs and not a new one in the house.”

“Oh.” Donna felt a ripple of disappointment. “That’s okay. We were just gonna hang out and swim for a while.”

Aunt Kerry bit her lip. Then her eyes lit up. “Why don’t you come with me. We can swim when we get back.”

Donna and Vicki looked at each other and shrugged. It didn’t matter if it was a routine errand. With Aunt Kerry the outing
was bound to be fun. And funny. Kerry had a great sense of humor and appreciated the silliness that was a trademark of Donna
and Vicki’s friendship.

Donna grinned. “You sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.” Kerry slipped out onto the porch, shut the front door of her house, and locked it. “We’ll be real quick, I promise.”

On the way to the store, Vicki told a funny story about a baseball game the day before. “All our friends are on this summer
team, so we thought we should go.” She paused. “You know … to support them. So we’re sitting in the bleachers and the game’s
about half over when Donna stands up, walks over to the dugout, and nudges one of the guys through the fence and asks them
about half-time.”

“I thought we’d missed it.” Donna’s voice was half whine, half giggle. “No one ever told me base-ball doesn’t have a halftime.”

Aunt Kerry laughed from the front seat. “You girls are so goofy. Both of you.”

Donna and Vicki barely paused before telling Kerry another story. By the time they reached the store, the three of them were
breathless from laughing so hard. Aunt Kerry pulled in and parked the car. “You girls want to stay here or come in with me?”

The parking place was in the shade just a few spots down the center row of parking. It would be cool and probably more fun
than going inside. Besides, it wasn’t quite ten in the morning yet. Donna spoke up first. “We’ll stay here. Besides,” she
cast a quick grin at Vicki. “I haven’t told Vicki what Kyle said about her yet.”

“What?” Vicki leaned forward, her eyes wide. “I’ve been with you for an hour already! I didn’t even know you’d talked to Kyle.”

Aunt Kerry smiled. “Sounds like you girls have a lot to catch up on.” She rolled down all the windows, climbed out, and shut
the door. “I’ll be right back.”

Not three minutes later, after the story about Kyle was finished, Donna’s eyes lit up. “Hey … I have an idea.”

Vicki was immediately in agreement. “What?”

“Let’s play a trick on Aunt Kerry.”

“Aunt Kerry?” Vicki’s eyes clouded some. “But Donna … she’s always so nice to us.”

“Not a mean trick.” Donna gave Vicki a light push. “Just something to make her laugh.”

“Like what?”

And with that, Donna began to explain the plan.

Less than ten minutes passed before Kerry Miller left the store and headed for her car. Almost immediately she noticed something
was wrong. The girls were no longer in the car. She held back a sigh as she slid her package onto the front passenger seat
and climbed behind the wheel. As funny as Donna and Vicki were, sometimes they didn’t know when to draw the line. They’d played
tricks on Kerry before, and usually the jokes were funny—pretending to drop an ice cube down her back or splashing her when
they were in the pool. But this … this disappearance was definitely not funny. She peered out the side window, searching for
any sign of them. “Donna! Vicki!” Kerry yelled their names and waited. When there was no response, she tried again. “Girls
… I’m leaving. This isn’t funny.”

God, where are they?
Kerry scanned the sidewalk in front of the store once more. Had they gotten hot and gone inside? Or were they in another
store along the strip mall? Panic rattled the windows of Kerry’s heart. What if it wasn’t a joke? What if something had happened
to them?

In that instant, Kerry got an idea. She would leave the parking lot and head straight for the police station. That way if
something had happened to them, the officers could begin the search more quickly. And if not, when the girls saw her car
leaving the area, they were bound to come running from one of the stores.

Kerry slipped the key into the ignition and revved up the engine. She put the car into first gear, and since there were no
cars parked in front of her, she started to drive straight ahead. Once she caught the girls’ attention, she could circle back
and pick them up.
Then I’ll be honest with them,
she told herself.
This kind of thing isn’t funny. Help me find them, God.

Then, just as Kerry moved her foot off the brake and onto the gas pedal, she heard a distinct voice from the back of the car.

“Back up!” The voice was deep, with a sort of intensity Kerry hadn’t heard before. “Go backwards!” Without hesitating, Kerry
obeyed, not knowing why or who had spoken the words. It didn’t matter who spoke them, because the power and authority in the
voice was beyond doubting. She had backed up five feet when she saw them.

Donna and Vicki, crouched in front of Kerry’s car, low and giggling. They had been hiding by the front grill of the car the
entire time. Nausea rushed across Kerry’s gut and she felt her body grow weak. Had she sped forward as she’d planned, she
would have run over the girls and probably killed them both.

Unaware of the danger they had been in, the girls came giggling toward the car and climbed inside. “Tricked you, didn’t we?”
Donna’s smile showed she had no clue what kind of disaster they’d just been spared.

Kerry slipped the car into park once again and turned around. She was shaking. “That wasn’t funny, girls. I thought you were
going to stay in the car until I got back.”

The girls’ faces fell. “Sorry,” Donna said softly. “We were just trying to have fun with you.”

Aunt Kerry was silent the rest of the way home, choosing not to tell the girls about what had nearly happened until they pulled
in the driveway. Then she explained how she was going to pull forward.

“But a voice stopped me. An audible voice told me to back up instead.”

“Wow.” Donna felt more than a little guilty. The whole idea seemed ridiculous now that it had turned into a problem. The last
thing she wanted to do was upset Aunt Kerry. “A real voice?”

“Sure sounded like it.”

“Would … would we have died, Aunt Kerry?”

Kerry was quiet for a moment. “I think so. My car would’ve knocked you down and then crushed you.”

“But how can someone talk to you if no one’s there?”

“Well … I’d say it was a miracle.” Kerry settled back against the seat of her car and for the first time she explained her
faith to the girls. “I have a relationship with God, not just a religion.” Kerry’s heartbeat was finally back to normal. “Is
that something you’d like to know more about?”

Both girls nodded their heads. And for the first time that summer, the story Kerry shared with them
wasn’t merely something to make them laugh. It was the truth about her faith in God and how Donna and Vicki could have the
same faith.

Before the day was up, both girls made the most serious decision of their lives by praying with Kerry. Not just thanking God
for the miraculous voice that saved their lives, but asking him to be in their lives the way he was in Aunt Kerry’s.

T
ami Bolton’s father needed just two words to turn her entire life upside down.

“We’re moving!” he announced one day. Then he went on to explain that he’d found a job in Southern California where he could
concentrate on his career in solar energy.

Tami had known this day might come. She had known it since her father had first brought the idea up the year before. But at
sixteen she wasn’t ready to leave Missouri, especially two thousand miles away from her married sister and friends in the
Midwest.

“I can’t move.” Tears welled up in her eyes and she hugged herself. “Everyone I know is here, Daddy. Can’t you wait another
year? Until I’m ready to live on my own?”

Her father’s expression softened. “I’d like to stay, too, Tami. Your mom and I know how hard this’ll be for you, for all of
us. But this is the job I’ve been
waiting years to get. I don’t have any choice, honey.” He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Besides, you can move back
after you finish high school. Maybe get a dorm and go to school here. That’s only a few years away.”

Tami nodded but she couldn’t speak. If she did, an ocean of tears would come at the same time. Instead she managed a sad smile
and headed upstairs to her room. There she threw herself on her bed and buried her face in the pillow. How could they do this
to her? Move her away from her friends when she was about to start her junior year in high school? Nothing would be the same
in California. She’d miss all the milestones she and her friends had planned on. Prom, graduation, applying for college admission
together.

God, can’t you change his mind? Make my dad understand that this isn’t the best thing for us. Please, God.

Within the hour, her mother entered her room and sat on the side of her bed. “Tami, I’m sorry you’re upset.”

Tami rolled over onto her back and studied her mother through swollen eyes. “Is he serious? We’re really moving to California?”