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“And
you
are the answer to my very first prayer.”
    “Wow,” Bethany said softly, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat. “Most people just call me Bethany.”
    There was a short pause, then Bethany asked, “So, where are you from?”
    “Colorado.”
    “Huh. How did you end up getting stuck all the way out here?”
    God has a sense of humor,
Holly thought as she ran back down the steep, winding trail.
He really has a sense of humor!
Not only was Bethany the last person that should be sent scrambling up the side of a cliff, but she, Holly Silva, was the
very
last person that should be sent on a downhill death run!
    “Please let me make it. Please let them be all right,” Holly prayed over and over in beat with her run as she continued to wind her way down the mountain, running as fast as her legs would carry her.
    The path tilted even steeper and Holly pushed herself harder. Her lungs were burning, but she ignored the pain and continued to run.
    The path turned muddy again. For a moment it twisted up and then pitched down again, going around a sharp corner. Holly would have preferred to lie down somewhere and pass out from fear and exhaustion. Instead, she kept going.
    “Please let me make it. Please let them be all right …”
    Hitting a particularly slick spot at full stride, Holly suddenly felt the traction in both shoes give way, and before she knew what had happened, she was sliding off of the trail. Then her backside smashed up against a huge boulder, stopping her fall, but not the destruction of the cell phone in her back pocket.
    She got up, even more determined than before, and began to run again, changing her prayer only slightly: “Please let me make it. Please let them be all right. Please send someone with a cell phone!”
    The steep downhill drop turned into a city of boulders. Holly surprised herself and bounded over the boulders like a billy goat. She ran out over a tangle of roots and past the trailhead sign. Finally! She was at the bottom, sore and out of breath.
    Gasping for air, she glanced around, trying to find someone with a cell phone.
    Suddenly she noticed a couple coming from the parking lot. They were loaded down with huge and very expensive-looking backpacks. The man had thick, dark dreadlocks. He was wearing beads around his neck and a Grateful Dead T-shirt. The woman with him wore loose peasant clothes and had small tattoos tracked around her wrist and upper arm.
    Trustafarians! God, you really outdid yourself this time! This is just who I needed!
    “Excuse me, you wouldn’t have a cell phone I could borrow?” Holly asked as she tried to rub the mud and grime off of her face. “It’s an emergency.”
    It wasn’t long before Bethany and Andrea heard the heavy thwack of the first helicopter as it moved slowly around the ridge. The bright red helicopter suddenly popped into view. The words County Rescue Helicopter were emblazoned on its side.
    “Woohoo!” Bethany yelled, and Andrea laughed a tired kind of laugh, leaning against the cliff and hugging Bethany tightly as a blast of wind from the helicopter blew over them. They watched the pilot maneuver into position and then lower the first rescue person to the area where Andrea’s mom was.
    Soon her mom was swinging out into the air with her rescuer, and then they were both sucked upwards towards the chopper.
    The next rescue was a little trickier. Because of the girls’ position against the cliff, the rescuers had to drop into the valley and climb up, much like Bethany had done—except they each had mountain-climbing gear.
    And two arms.
    That detail wasn’t lost on them as the first rescuer finally reached Bethany and Andrea’s small perch.
    “How in the world did
you
make it up here?” he asked in wide-eyed amazement. Bethanylooked at Andrea and smiled, then turned back to the rescuer.
    “God,” she answered simply. The man smiled and shook his head as he quickly strapped her in with him. Then the second