On September 11, 2001, my friend Michael Hingson and his guide dog, Roselle, went to work in his office on the 78th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. What started off as a normal day turned extraordinary when the hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 was flown into their building. Not knowing what was going on, Michael and Roselle walked down 1,463 steps and exited the North Tower.

Minutes later, the South Tower collapsed some one hundred yards from them. As the pair turned to flee from the debris, Michael, who had prayed throughout the morning, cried out to God, “Why did you get us out of the building only to let another fall on us?” In the chaos, he heard God’s voice inside his heart, Don’t worry about the things you cannot control. Focus on running with Roselle and the rest will take care of itself. In what was now an urban wilderness, God’s words comforted and calmed his heart.

Michael and Roselle ran, dodging debris and then being enveloped by the toxic three-hundred-foot dust cloud. In the utter chaos of those moments, Michael felt God’s presence and experienced the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). The deep peace allowed him to totally focus on running with Roselle, who was now temporarily blind from the dust. Michael, who learned echolocation at the age of four, and Roselle simultaneously heard an opening into a subway station and ducked out of the wilderness into a refuge.

It was a few years before Michael talked about his mystical experience publicly, but now he alludes to God’s guidance in the wilderness whenever he tells his story. God made a way for Michael on that terrible day. How has God made a way for you in the wilderness?