22 Feb, 2007
No matter where you go
Woman awakens encased in ice after going higher than Mount Everest
CANBERRA, Australia - A German paraglider was encased in ice and blacked out after being sucked into a tornado-like thunderstorm in Australia and carried to a height greater than Mount Everest. She survived.
“You can’t imagine the power. You feel like nothing, like a leaf from a tree going up. The glider kept climbing, climbing and I couldn’t see anything," recalled Ewa Wisnerska. "Then it got dark."
The 2005 World Cup winner was lifted 32,612 feet (9,940 meters) above sea level by the storm near Manilla in New South Wales state while preparing for the tenth FAI World Paragliding Championships next week.
A 42-year-old Chinese paraglider, He Zhongpin, was killed by the same weather system, apparently from a lack of oxygen and extreme cold, the organizers said. His body was found on Thursday 47 miles from his launch site.
'No oxygen' in the death zone
Wisnerska, a member of the German team, had been carried to a height greater than the 29,035-foot Mount Everest — an area known to mountaineers as the death zone for its extreme cold — in just 10 minutes and was rendered unconscious for almost an hour.
She encountered hailstones the size of oranges, and the temperature plummeted to minus 58 Fahrenheit.
“There’s no oxygen. She could have suffered brain damage. But she came to again at a height of 6,900 meters with ice all over her body and slowly descended herself,” said Godfrey Wenness, one of Australia’s most experienced paraglider pilots.
Wisnerska was admitted to hospital with severe frostbite and blistering to her face and ears, but has since been released.
Wisnerska, whose flight was tracked by her personal GPS and computer, landed 40 miles from her launch site.
photo & story courtesy msnbc.msn.com, 02/16/07
Psalm 139:7-10 (NLT)
7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
What does today's scripture teach us about God's presence?
He's everywhere! He's everywhere! Another big word to describe this truth about one of God's attributes is that He is OMNIPRESENT.
This means that we can never escape from His Spirit. For those of us who know and love God through our faith in Christ, this is great news!
No matter where we go or what we do, we are never out of reach of God's comforting presence.
The paraglider, Wisnerska, had her amazing flight into the heavens tracked by her personal GPS.
If you are a follower of Jesus, you are personally tracked by GPS (God's present Spirit)!
How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?
- Go back and read today's verses (Psalm 139:7-10) aloud as a prayer of thanks and trust to God.
- Keep a journal or written list of the "storms of life" that have sucked you up into feeling like you wish you could pass out. This might be a stress at school, in your family, with your job, etc. Use today's scripture as a daily prayer for this list and watch how God's Spirit meets your needs.
- Read Romans 8:35-39 as another Biblical reminder of how you can depend on God's loving presence in your life.
How can we connect today's story, God's Story and our story to others?
- Go paragliding in Australia with your friends. (OK, try the next one.)
- Use the story about the woman who survived the storm while paragliding to start a conversation with someone in your storysphere who needs Jesus. Ask your friend or family member what he or she thinks about when caught in a "storm of life"? If Jesus gives you a nudge to share some of your story, you might use Psalm 139:7-10 because it fits so well with the incredible story of the surviving paraglider.
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