Never Underestimate the Power of Prayer

September 27th, 2020. Pastor Luke Barnett and his 20-year-old daughter, Annalee set off on an 800-mile hike along the Arizona Trail to raise money and awareness for the Short Creek Dream Center, a facility that helps rescue women from sex trafficking.

They had everything they needed including a GPS locater, SAT phone, supplies, and perhaps just as important Annalee says, was prayer. “There’s a lot of prayer going into this. We had a lot of support from the church and, honestly, churches across the country, our pastor friends. It was just so encouraging just to know that there were so many people praying.” They had no idea how important those prayers would be. 

The first two weeks of the 40-day hike were near perfect. Documenting their journey, the pair enjoyed the views, their time together, and time with God. Annalee says, “What was beautiful about the trail is I had nothing to do but walk. So, I could talk to Him all day, every day.”

Luke agrees, “The beauty of the Arizona Trail. It's rugged, it's tough. But it's one of the most beautiful trails that you will ever see. And so, you just feel like you are so close to God.”

Day 28 promised to be another beautiful day. After a 7-mile climb, they started their descent into a ravine. The trail was steep and the ground was loose shale. Annalee lowered herself down a boulder and Luke followed close behind when Luke recalls, “I felt this massive boulder, probably six, seven thousand pounds, move. She's right below it and as any dad would do, instinctively I just reached over and pushed her out of the way.”

Annalee says, “It just falls on top of him. And they both go down the slope together, kind of just grinding him into the earth as it goes. And it stops after about 20 feet. There was silence for a little bit, and I didn't know if he was dead or if he was alive, and I was just kind of frozen, waiting to hear anything.”

Annalee rushed to her dad and pulled him from under the boulder. Thanking God for her survival training, she tended to her dad. He was conscious but wounded and in tremendous pain. Luke recalls, “I thought I was dying at that moment, because my body was just so broken.”

Annalee hit the S-O-S button on her GPS, alerting a rescue team to their location. She also ran back up the hill to get service for their SAT phone to call their support team for help and prayer. She says, “When I began running up to the top, I was saying, ‘God, help us. God, please. God, please.’ Just praying nonstop.”

Meanwhile Luke recalls, “I could hardly breathe. And it was just so much pain. And so, I began to pray, ‘God, I don't want to die.’” After the call, Annalee ran back to her dad who was trying to rest. With nothing more to do except wait for help, Annalee decided to document the accident. Annalee says, “I watched it go over him and it looked like it crushed his head. His left arm’s all beaten up and his hand’s crushed.” Luke says, “I’m doing good. It’s just the grace of God that somehow that boulder went right over me and didn’t crush my skull.”

A short time later, a chopper appeared and Deputy Edward Philpott of Maricopa County Search and Rescue dropped in to secure Luke for extraction. Deputy Philpott says, “His vitals were normal for when we first got there but on incidents like that, you don't know what's internal. My job, on those kinds of things, is stop any major bleed, stabilize any fractures, C-spine, you know, precautions, and get the person out of there.”

Finding just a little bleeding and some fractured bones, Deputy Philpott strapped Luke onto the rescue board and airlifted him to a flat hilltop. There they secured Luke inside, and flew him to a nearby aid station while Annalee stayed behind and waited for them to come back for her. Annalee recalls, “I was just thanking God that he was out of there. There was some fear, but I was kind of numb at that point, wasn't feeling much of anything.”

From the aid station, Luke was flown to Scottsdale Osborn Trauma Center where doctors immediately started working on him. Luke says, “I broke my femur, broke my hip. All the skin was ripped off the back of my hand and had tendon damage through my hands, forearm radius bone is broken. Three ribs are broken. I was shocked.”

Annalee was flown out to meet her dad at the hospital. By now her mom and members of their support team had arrived too. Annalee recalls, “He was in rough shape, but he was fine, which was a huge relief to me and my mom.”

The next day Luke had surgery to repair his hip, femur, and forearm. Incredibly, he was taking a few steps later that afternoon. At the urging of her dad, Annalee went back to finish the rest of the journey with another hiking partner. Annalee recalls, “Hiking the last couple weeks without my dad was difficult for me because I really missed my dad. I wanted to be with him as he recovered, but I knew we had to finish.”

Then, on November 14th with only a couple hundred yards to go, Annalee got a surprise. Her dad joined her so they could hike the final steps together. Luke says, “She saw me, and she just started crying. And we crossed the finish line. It was a great feeling knowing that we started together and then we finished together.”

Annalee recalls, “Finishing with my dad was very, very happy, very, very joyous. There were tears, but I was happy to be done.”

Luke and Annalee know that God was watching out for them all along the journey and it was the power of prayer that saved them from tragedy. Deputy Philpott says, “If that boulder had gone one direction or the other, you know, he wouldn't be here today.”

Annalee says, “Being through this hike showed me that prayer is literal. It works, and we do it for a reason. When we pray, when we ask God for things, He answers.”

Luke believes, “God protected me in that moment, and I believe it's a result of thousands and thousands of people praying for us and covering us. Prayer really works. Prayer is a powerful, powerful thing.”