The voices rose and fell—loud voices, angry voices—as the four men argued over what they should do with their captive. Blindfolded in the next room, Bob Thomas listened to the voices now rising in frustration. He felt sure they would kill him soon; the only uncertainty was how or when death would come.
Eighteen hours earlier he had been snatched from the driveway of his home and thrown into the back of a van. Stripped, handcuffed, blindfolded, hit on the head and finally imprisoned in the bedroom of a strange house, he could see little hope of making his escape. Even if he could get outside, an attack of polio had left him unable to walk without the aid of two crutches. He could think of no way to get away from his captors.
Angrier grew the voices. They had kidnapped Thomas in the hope of extorting five million dollars from his family, but they were finding out that he had settled all his accounts in such a way that no funds could be released. At least one of the kidnappers was sure he had been recognized by their victim; if Thomas lived to identify him, prison doors would likely be open for all of them.
One thing they had not taken into account. Thomas was a Christian. At midnight he remembered other prisoners at midnight: Paul and Silas in the account in the Bible. They had been beaten and thrown into prison. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. (Acts 16:25,2625And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. (Acts 16:25‑26).)
Bob Thomas started singing.
There was a startled silence in the next room. Then, “What’s he doing?” he heard one say.
“He’s singing hymns!”
The earth didn’t quake, but just possibly the kidnappers did! Four hours after he began singing, Thomas returned home to his wife and son, thanking God that he had lived and was free.
Was that a miracle? No, just an example of God’s care for one of His children. It is happening every day, everywhere, in both tremendous mercies like Thomas’s release and in things so small that we are hardly aware of them.
The real miracle was the change in the hearts of the men. They released Thomas without a penny of ransom, even with an apology from one, and three fifty dollar bills to replace what they had taken from his wallet.
Two of the men have been arrested by the FBI; the other two are still at large, but Thomas still prays for all four. He says, “I want them to go to heaven,” and that there can still be love and forgiveness in his heart is perhaps a miracle too!
He can hope that some day, like the jailor in charge of Paul and Silas, they will ask the simple question, What must I do to be saved? And the answer will be as simple: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. (Acts 16:30,3130And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:30‑31).)