Miracles

Have You Heard the One About: The Appalachian sheriff pulled over Wilmer, a known moonshiner and asked what he was doing out so late. Wilmer thought quickly and said “I was at that revival down there at the New ‘Nited Methodist Church”. The sheriff asked what the sermon had been about. “Miracles” bluffed Wilmer. “Well, said the sheriff, what’s in those jugs in the back seat of your car?” Wilmer mumbled “Water, I s’pose”. The sheriff asked if he could have a drink of water, to which Wilmer glumly agreed. Suddenly the sheriff said “Wilmer, this here is alcohol, it’s not water!” Wilmer, quickly inspired, bowed his head and said “Look at that! The good Lord done done it again!!!”

What You Might Expect Me to Say about Miracles: They happen every day. They happen in the very fact of life. We need to choose to see.

But that’s Not the Whole Story, Is It? When we stand at the bedside of dying children, we demand more. When mothers of children are diagnosed as terminal, we demand more. When disasters strike randomly we insist that God do more to change the situation. When we see birth defects, ravaging disease, unintended consequences, or even when we make mistakes, we want a do over. We insist on it. We command God.

Here’s Where I Get into Trouble. Nowadays, miracles are the stuff of science. Doctors have words like spontaneous remission, benign, misdiagnosis. Medical research gives us terms like immune system, regeneration, adaptation. Physicists use terms like uncertainty principle, probability. Cosmologists use terms like omega point, anthropic principle. We don’t use the generic term miracle often, but we actually have multiplied our use of similar concepts.

Drug and physical and psychological therapies, joint replacements and organ transplants, civil engineering, waste water treatment, the list goes on and on… art and beauty, benevolence and self sacrifice. Miracles are everywhere! We live the supernatural!! What we complain about are the exceptions where we don’t see miracles. Miracles are the norm. We don’t like it when they don’t show up. I guess you could call us spoiled. We can get lazy and only pray when we see the exceptions. I hope we can pray for wisdoms to develop more miracles, from forgiveness to gardens growing, and pray our joy in seeing the miracles we do see, as well as pray for the places we don’t see them yet.

Have I seen miracles in answer to prayer? Hundreds of times. Many have been confirmed by doctors, using the language of their field, of course.
Thousands more have been confirmed in the changed lives of individuals.

Have I seen prayers for miracles go unanswered? I guess thousands of times if we just mean God did not do what I asked. [Oh, and yes, sometimes we can give many thanks for God not doing what I have asked. I can’t always see the whole picture.] But kids dying? Mothers also? Come on God. And I have also seen some miracles that I didn’t think were necessary … that I would have gladly traded for bigger better things.

Cosmologists will tell us we shouldn’t be here at all. And anthropologists will tell us that none of us should be living as long as we are, historically speaking. But every time someone dies, even if it makes sense in some abstract mathematical way, I cringe. I will continue to pray for miracles until I die or until no one dies anymore. And I will continue to be angry with God and the creation when miracles don’t happen that could heal or recover a life. What does that do to my life with God? I don’t follow this God because I get my way. If I did get my way altogether for just a little while, I would become deeply sick and the world itself would be damaged horribly. The movie Bruce, Almighty could be any of our life’s story if we got our way all the time.

Jesus suggested we could have a part in making miracles happen. And we do. So why not pray miracles into the creation every day, and pray twice as hard for the exceptions where we don’t see them? If we don’t get what we want, we at least take our part on the side of a passion for goodness.


Don’t Lie to Yourself: We will all face moments when the anomaly of believing in a God of love and seeing good people suffer will make us either mad, crazy, or atheists. But we do get to choose which. We will ache. At the top of our lungs and the bottom of our souls.

But we can love all good, and desire for even more. And hold each other as sacred in our hearts, and share our hope. And learn to see. Do well.