Did anyone remember to say thanks?

Dawn Cribbs

I can't help but wonder sometimes about the nine lepers who never said "Thanks."

There were 10 lepers present that day. Outcast, feared and even hated for their fearful condition, they must have held little hope that the man they called Jesus could help them in the least, yet they called to him "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" and he responded, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

"One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him -- and he was a Samaritan.

"Jesus asked, "Were not all 10 cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."' (Luke 17:11-17)

Years ago we took a traditional Colorado vacation with all three children in tow. We visited the Royal Gorge, the Great Sand Dunes and of course, the Cave of the Winds.

The Royal Gorge was literally breathtaking, the bridge a feat of engineering well before its time. The view to the bottom was equaled only by the view from the bottom, which we reached by clinging to the safety bars of a (seemingly) flimsy contraption they called a tram. (I think that's what they called it. I may be mistaken as I was in the midst of -- almost successfully -- hiding my nearly paralyzing fear of heights from my children.) That leg of the journey ended with none of the children catching my phobia and we continued on our way.

The Great Sand Dunes are a visual mystery continuously in the making as high country pines and sheer granite cliffs give way to a vista of waves of white sand nestled against the Sangre De Cristo mountain range. The wind alone changes the scene, shifting the dunes, particle by particle. Our souvenir collecting that day included one small jar of the sand, which upon closer inspection, was riddled with the unmistakably gray shade of granite. What forces took granite from the mountainside and pulverized it to the consistency of finest sand? The mystery remains, although the kids did sacrifice the souvenir years later for a practical joke on their dad. (How they kept their faces straight while he liberally "peppered" his dinner I'll never know.)

No Colorado vacation would be complete without a trip to the Cave of the Winds near Manitou Springs, Colo. This look under the mountain did not disappoint. The depth of the beauty of creation is revealed when viewed from the other side. The beauty is there, though few human eyes have ever see it. (I have heard that the ocean depths are beautiful as well, with fishes of vibrant colors contributing to the strangely translucent colors. Again, creation made complete with beauty through and through, though only recently revealed to human eyes.)

Part of the tour included a segment of total darkness. Immediately before killing the lights, the tour guide advised us to take note of where we stood, for the landscape would be erased from our vision in its entirety. And it certainly was.

I knew, from an intellectual standpoint, that I was standing securely on a roped path, with no precipice nearby where I could unwittingly step into empty inky blackness, yet with absolute darkness surrounding me, I was hard-pressed to convince myself of that truth. I did not move a muscle except in my hands as they instinctively tightened around the smaller hands of my children.

The lights were only out for a brief moment in time, perhaps 15 seconds in all, but when they reappeared, relief was evident on every face, and the subdued comments were much alike, as everyone commented on how complete the darkness had been and how welcome the light on its return.

I couldn't help but be reminded of the totality of that darkness when I first heard of the nine miners trapped 240 feet beneath the surface of the earth. I don't know if the miners lost their light during their travail in the underground reaches of the world, but I do know that their relatively safe environment was undeniably changed in an instant, much as ours was when the light switched was turned from on to off.

Their descent into terror was not a planned part of a tour, designed to impress and maybe to scare the tourists just a little, but seemed to be a random act of nature exerting force against man. It seemed a sure bet that man would lose the battle.

Prayer was instantaneous around the country. The miners' families and friends, even the miners themselves, were credited with prayer by a quote in an Associated Press story Friday from retired miner Clark Shaulis, "If they're still down there, I'm sure of one thing. They're praying."

I watched the aftermath of the rescue with ears hungry to hear praise that the prayers of a nation had been heard. I waited in vain. In the days immediately following September 11, we, as a nation, couldn't give God enough praise, public praise, even as we beseeched him for protection, direction and wisdom in the days following our national tragedy. Have we so soon lost the glory of God and so easily regained our own sense of self-sufficiency? May it not be so. The miracles of the rescue are numberless, as should be our praise.

"Was no one found to return and give praise to God?" Luke 17:18 (NIV)