By Sandra Bost
In December 2001, when our first attempt to see Jebal Al Lawz in northern Saudi Arabia was cut short by the “random” 10-foot fence and highly guarded security gate, we went home to Jeddah to investigate. Apparently, we had glossed over the part of the story in *The Gold of Exodus that mentioned the two explorers getting arrested at gunpoint for scaling the mountain under the cover of darkness. (*This is the book that fueled our curiosity and first introduced us to the theory that the true Mount Sinai is in Saudi Arabia, not in Egypt.)
Admittedly, in March 2001, when we planned our second trip with our friend, the ex-member of the South African Special Forces and his family, we were fully aware of the fact that the three people whose notes we were following on this wild adventure, had all been arrested. In our overzealousness, if not naivety, we determined that these men had been arrested because they were in Saudi Arabia illegally. We resolved that since we had proper paperwork, we would be fine. However, standing minutes away from the back of the mountain, in the reddish-brown sand, on the path that we had just traveled off-road for more than 45 minutes, looking into the face of an armed security guard shouting, “Rooh!” (Go!), we decided to heed his warning and turn around. With the guard shack in our rearview mirrors and the opportunity to explore Biblical history deserted, we headed North toward Jordan. That is when things took a scary turn.
About two minutes into our exodus, something else appeared in the rearview mirror. Armed with a mounted machine gun manned by a member of the Saudi military, the truck we had just left was approaching quickly, throwing up a cloud of dust in its path. Unsure of what was going on, and a little frightened, the guys chose to keep driving. As the truck was closing in on us, my husband decided to move over to allow it to pass. However, the driver decided to pass us on the right at the exact moment causing him to swerve off into the deep, loose sand off of the worn path we were traveling. Nevertheless, we kept driving, two SUVs and 1 military truck speeding through the desert. Until in the distance, we saw the cloud of the other truck headed our way. At that point, our friend decided to pull over. We pulled in behind him.
As the guys got out of our SUVs exchanging uncertain glances, the two Saudi vehicles skidded to a stop. The guards jumped out waving their arms and shouting angrily in Arabic. The lead truck driver was making a gesture by clapping the back of his right hand into the palm of his left hand. “Pis-port,” he kept repeating in broken English. Our guys knew that he was asking for their passports, but they pretended not to understand. The tension was mounting, and the guards were not amused. Finally, our friend held up his passport and said, “This?” The second guard grabbed it from his hand, but our friend immediately snatched it back.
To be clear, as you may know, your passport is your lifeline when you are traveling abroad. In the early 2000s, Saudi Arabia was not open to tourists. You could only be in the country with an Iqama (work visa) and you could only exit if you had an entry stamp in your passport. If you were to lose access to either of those documents, you may not be able to leave the country since you could not prove lawful entry. The guys knew that keeping possession of our documents was imperative for our safety.
It was at that moment that the larger man motioned for us to follow them. Uneasy, but feeling like there was no other choice, the guys got back in our vehicles and filed in between the two trucks. I am not exactly sure how the conversation in our friends’ car went, but I can tell you that fervent prayers were being prayed (through tears) from our car as we threw ourselves at the Mercy of Jesus and fully relied on the words from Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Maybe you are in a seemingly impossible season of your life. Things feel scary, bleak, and hopeless. I am here to tell you; you can turn to Jesus. He can be trusted in times of trouble, even of your own doing. Tune in next time to see how He got us out of this scary predicament.
