Someone asked me the other day, “Do you believe in miracles?”  I said, “I remember when the USA Olympic Hockey team beat the Soviets at Lake Placid and the ABC announcer, Al Michaels, asked and answered his own question: ‘Do you believe in miracles? YES!’ ”
“Is that the kind of miracle you are asking about?” Before he could answer I went on:

“Back when I was a summer intern in 1978 at First Christian Church in San Francisco I met a woman there named Luella.  She was misdiagnosed as mentally retarded when she was an infant.  Her father abused her.  She was terribly mistreated.  Her face was misshapen.  Her speech slurred.  That summer she turned 40 years old.  The church folks found out that she had never had a birthday party before.  They held one for her at the regular Thursday night Bible study.  As the cake and the candles were brought out and the happy birthday song was being sung, she began to weep.  Once the song was done and the candles blown out she said, ‘Before coming to this church I had never known what it was like to be loved.  I know now.’

“It was amazing. I cried real tears too. I was an arrogant know-it-all 19-year-old kid but on that night I witnessed a miracle.  A miracle named love.”

I asked my questioner, “Is that the kind you are talking about?”

Again, before he could reply, I told another story:

“I met a woman in Atlanta back when I was a pastor there.  Her name was Ann. She was Asian American. She came to church one Sunday because the sign on the corner said ‘Grace Spoken Here.’  She told me that she needed grace.  She had been in an abusive relationship. The man she married beat her up throughout the first nine months of their marriage.  She finally got out of it, got a restraining order and moved on with her life.  She had grown up as a Buddhist.  The church in Atlanta welcomed her.  She was not told to give up Buddhism. She was invited to follow Jesus. She moved back to the west coast after a couple of years. She told me on her last Sunday before moving, ‘You know, it sounds funny but my whole life has been turned around.  I feel like discovering the teachings of Jesus has given me a whole new start on life.  It’s like I have been resurrected.’ ”

I do believe in miracles.  Especially the kind where lives and sometimes whole communities are transformed by the power of God’s undying love.

Grace and peace to you,

-Glen