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In The Midst of The Earthquake
This story is true, but the names of the people have been changed due to sensitivity.
It was three o’clock in the morning in the Turkish town of Degirmendere (Dey-ir-MEN-der-rey) and Adnan was sleeping peacefully in his bed. Suddenly, an earthquake shook his room like a dog with a rag in its teeth. Adnan leaped out of bed. The whole building seemed to be falling apart. He rushed out into the street, where he found thousands of other Turkish mothers and fathers with their children. Everyone was crying and screaming. Power lines were down; it was so black people could only see with flashlights and candles.
Deep in the earth beneath Degirmendere, a crack in the earth more than one thousand miles long suddenly split wide open along the nearby seashore. In an instant, entire streets, shops, and apartment buildings along the seafront disappeared into the crack. Seawater rushed in, filling the huge gap. When the earth slammed shut again, a massive tidal wave crashed onto the land, dragging more homes, people, cars, trees—everything in its path —down into the dark water.
The sun rose over Degirmendere a few hours later, and now Adnan saw the damage clearly. Hundreds of apartment buildings and houses were flattened like stacks of pancakes. Thousands of people were trapped inside. Adnan was one of only a few trained earthquake rescuers in the area. He sprang into action.
With only his bare hands to help him, Adnan began clawing his way back into collapsed buildings, looking for people still alive. Most of the time it was like crawling under a bed, except that everywhere he turned, his way was blocked by crushed furniture and broken walls. And it was hot! Outdoors the temperature was 104 degrees. Inside a building it was closer to 115 degrees—almost enough to cook an egg.
After three days of working without a break from sunrise to sunset, Adnan's strength was gone. He started home to get some rest for the next day. Suddenly a voice called out from another building, "We've heard someone inside. Come quickly and help us!"
Exhausted from the rescue work, and discouraged at finding few people alive, Adnan almost kept walking. But he knew what he had to do. So he climbed into the second floor of a seven-story apartment, and once more began pulling rubble out of the way. Someone was alive in there. He had to get them out.
Deep inside the apartment, Adnan found an old Muslim man. His prayer rug, his prayer beads, and his Kur'an (the holy book of the Muslims) were nearby. The man was delirious from the heat and had no water for three days.
Adnan cleared the rubble away and tried to pull the old man to safety. But something was caught! It was the old man's leg, trapped under a huge, heavy concrete beam—with five more floors of rubble holding it down!
Adnan almost wept. He was so tired. And the old man would die if he just left him there. What should he do? In frustration, Adnan began to pray a Muslim prayer for help:
"God, I've never asked you for anything before. But today is my birthday, and I don't want to have to cut this old man's leg off. Please send me a prophet. Any prophet will do—Adam, Moses, David, Buddha, I don't care which one—you can even send Jesus, if you want."
As Adnan said the name of Jesus, the old man began to speak. "All the other prophets are dead," he said. "Only Jesus is alive!"
Adnan looked at him in shock. The old man was still unconscious. Where did those words come from?
"Uncle," Adnan replied, "if that's true, then you'd better pray that Jesus comes and helps me. Because if He doesn't, I'm going to have to cut your leg off to get you out of here. And I don't want to do that because, you see, it's my birthday today!"
With that, Adnan reached out and laid his hand again on the huge beam. As he did, it moved! The old man was free!
Adnan carefully pulled the old man to safety, and others quickly moved him to a nearby hospital. But in Adnan's heart, a change had taken place. Jesus had answered the only prayer he'd ever prayed. For Adnan, that was enough. Today Adnan is serving Jesus.
This true testimony was provided by Jonathan Russell and is being used with permission from the Assemblies of God World Missions.
© 2002 The General Council of the Assemblies of God. All rights reserved. Permission granted to reproduce and adapt lesson components for exclusive use in the local church. Any other use requires written permission. |
