As you know, I live in Wyoming. As you also know, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am proud to be a LDS Wyomingite. So I had to go see The Cokeville Miracle the first day it opened.

Cokeville, Wyoming is a small town – because that’s our specialty in this state: small towns. It is located in the southwest pocket close to the Idaho border. In 1986 it found itself in the unpleasant national spotlight when a former town marshal and his wife entered the elementary school with a bomb and guns. They held the students and teachers hostage for over two hours.   The bomb went off prematurely and both perpetrators were killed – the ex-marshal first shot his wife then himself. The 154 hostages escaped, 76 with injuries.

The Cokeville Miracle details the siege and focuses on the escape. It’s a low budget movie and doesn’t have the bells and whistles of a blockbuster. There are some exposition gaps in the beginning of the movie that were a little confusing. But the overall message is powerful and important. Here are my takeaways:

1. God lives. We move away from Him when we focus on the darkness this world has to offer. But He is there in the light. Look for the beauty in this world and you will find God has never left us and does not want to leave us utterly alone.
2. The power of prayer is a force we need to be using and teaching to the next generation. It is sometimes the only armor we have in our quiver.
3. This last thought I had might be a little more controversial. Maybe this miracle was given to show us what happens when unspeakable events like this occur. With all these shootings in schools and all the innocent lives lost it becomes easy to dive into despair and discouragement. We might be tempted to ask, why is such darkness able to penetrate the most innocent? Maybe, and this is a working thought, maybe it is allowed so that those so filled with evil will receive a true and just judgement of their actions. And I believe that judgement will come. But for the blameless victims who are robbed of life I think they get those angels to comfort them. Those visitors in white come and take them by the hand and lead them to their home in light where they wait for their families to eventually join them. Things like this are going to happen and they are currently happening more and more often. Doesn’t it help just a little to know the innocent victims are not left comfortless? They are visited by loved ones who come and help them in their time of need – in their darkest, most frightening hour. Maybe, just maybe, this can help the grieving process just a tiny bit.

In the end, do I recommend this movie?

Yes, yes I do. Watch it and know God lives. He loves us. There is a plan. Trust Him.