Little Miracles

I used to believe in miracles. I had read about them in the Bible after all. But I had never known anyone who had been raised from the dead. And though I certainly drank my share of wine, none of it, to the best of my knowledge had started out the day as water. None the less, I believed that kind of thing did happen, just not in my day and age and not to me.

Then I got sober. As a part of that process I turned my will and my life over to the care of a Higher Power, the God of my youth. The God who raised Lazarus from the dead, the God who turned water into wine, the God who became Man, who died and conquered death so that I could live.

When I turned my will and life over to Him, I underwent a spiritual awakening. I started to see His hand at work in my life on a daily basis. And I was amazed at the miracles that were happening in my life and had been even before I was able to see them. They weren't the Cecil B. DeMille kind, Charlton Heston wasn't turning his staff into a serpent or parting the Red Sea, but they were miracles all the same.

Here is the kind of "little miracle" that I'm talking about. My daughter and son-in-law flew in on Thursday for a visit and to pick up some furniture that we are not taking with us on our next move. The plan was for them to load up Friday and head back to NY on this morning. I had also been anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new guitar I bought on line last weekend. I had been tracking it all week and knew it had arrive in Minneapolis on Thursday at 3:30. So, Friday morning we get up and it's snowing, hard. My first thought is "this ought to be fun loading all this furniture in the snow". But I started my day as I always do, with a prayer and a desire that "Your will, not mine be done." After coffee, we all decided to head in to town for a little breakfast. I told my wife, "wait, what if my guitar shows up"? But it didn't get into the cities until 3:30 yesterday, surely it won't show up until this afternoon, so off we go. We decideded to go to Perkins for breakfast so I took an alternate route into town. On the way I told my wife, "I should have taken the main road into town in case I passed the FedEx truck on the way".

Now here comes my "little miracle".

Because I took the alternate route into town, I saw a FedEx truck at a business on the edge of town (that I would not have seen if I had taken the main road). I found the first driveway I could and turned around. By the time I got turned around, the FedEx truck was pulling out and he headed across the road into a residential neighborhood. He was out of sight before I could get back there to flag him down or follow him. Did I mention the snow that had been falling and how I thought that was such a bad stroke of luck to have to deal with all that rotten snow while loading furniture? Well, when I got to where I last saw the truck, there were the newest, freshest set of tire tracks to follow you could ever ask for. I followed them through this neighborhood, through numerous twists and turns right to the FedEx truck. I never would have been able to find him if not for the snow! And yes, he did have my guitar. I signed for it and tucked it safely away in the truck and then we all proceeded on to breakfast.

While we ate, the snow stopped. We went home and got everything loaded, without a single snowflake to hinder our progress. Then, after all the work was done, I finally got to open my guitar up and try it out. And oh, what a blessing. The first song I played was Amazing Grace, the song my brother played for my daughter Annette at her funeral. I talked to my brother who is in the hospital battling depression and received another of my "little miracles". He sounded so good, was taking an active part in his recovery and displayed an attitude that showed he was serious and dedicated to getting well. And my daughter and son-in-law were able to stay on an extra day!

Snow that was a hinderance was turned into a blessing. There was family to share a special a moment with. And my brother continued to show improvement in his fight to find his way in life.

Now I used to think this sort of thing just 'good luck' or mere coincidence. But no more. Today, I see these things with a new pair of glasses and I see the Hand of God working these "little miracles" in my life on a daily basis, all I have to do...is let Him.