Local residents described the incident as a “miracle” as the improvised explosive device failed to go off, hurting no one.
I’m sharing a story that wasn’t big news. Here’s a very personal version of the incident.
It was another day of violence in a small town on Israel’s West Bank.
Rachel, a Jewish citizen, was
riding the local bus back home when she heard a suspicious sound coming from the seat behind her. She turned around to find a large black bag.
It was a bomb.
Rachel alerted the bus driver, who called the police, and everyone safely evacuated the bus.
The authorities were able to disarm the explosive with no cost to the lives of the many people in the area at the time.
When Rachel got home after the ordeal, she called her father to tell him what happened.
“Have
you done anything recently to merit the blessing of being able to save so many lives?” He asked her.
After thinking about it for a few minutes, she said, “Yes.”
Rachel told her father that she had been quarreling with a neighbor for close to a year. The woman next door built a porch close to her property line, restricting her view, and cutting off some of the natural light she enjoyed from her kitchen window.
Earlier in the week, it was the holiday of Purim. The custom is to
exchange gifts of food and drink with friends and neighbors. Rachel surprised the lady next door with a gift basket and an offer of reconciliation, which was gratefully accepted.
Hearing this story told by someone familiar with the situation, I said to myself, “God is good.”
God was in
Rachel’s inquisitive glance at just the right time and place, and God was in Rachel’s father, whose first response upon hearing that his daughter had a close call with death, was to remind her to find the deeper meaning in her heroism.
God is always in the story.
Susan Diamond
Click Here for the news report from The Israel Times
