“I am tired.” I whispered. It had been a long week and I was driving home in fog and black ice, as I always did this time of year. I cranked up the cassette player so that Tom T. Hall was blaring out lyrics to “Faster Horses”. But I really wasn’t paying any attention to the music, I was too exhausted to pay much attention. Reaching under the seat I pulled out a pint bottle of Black Velvet whiskey and unscrewed the cap. Holding the bottle up, I could see by the light of the moon that there were a few swallows left and I gulped them down.
“You must be crazy, son!” I said to myself wincing from the whiskey burn. “You haven’t slept in at least two days, your out of speed and you are still drinking! Whew, what are you thinking?” as I continued the one-way conversation. Truth was, I wasn’t thinking and that was the problem.
My mind started to wander as I tried to recall the last couple of days. A lot of it was a blur but what I could remember was a mix of partying and work, all of it under the influence of lots of booze and crank. One thing I hadn’t done was sleep and now I tried to concentrate on the road. No luck, I nodded off.
I was passed out, but I felt something like a hand nudge me. Then shake my shoulder. I came awake with a start, in time to see I was heading off the road and would soon be in the ditch. Pulling the steering wheel to the left I headed back into my lane but hit a patch of black ice. Soon the car was out of control, fish-tailing and there was nothing I could do. I should have panicked but it was if someone else was in the car with me. Sleep deprived and drunk, I stayed calm and took my foot off the gas. As the tires gripped dry road again, I was able to get it back under control.
“What just happened?” I asked myself. It sure felt like there had been someone in the car with me. But that couldn’t be true. As I looked at the passenger seat then in the rearview mirror, no one was there. Finally, I just shook my head and thought, “You were dreaming, nothing happened.” But the nagging feeling would not go away.
I now know that there have been many incidents in my life where supernatural things have occurred. Strange interventions into situations where my life was in danger or where I was involved in something that should have had terrible results. My life has been one full of miracles.
Yeah, I know there are a lot of you out there saying, “Another fanatic, who sees miracles in coincidences and luck.” And I can understand that, not that long ago I would have agreed with you, but I cannot do that anymore. I can state with all certainity that God intercedes in our lives in ways that I cannot explain but believe. And for me it comes down to something like what the ancient Christian apologist Augustine said, “I never have any difficulty believing in miracles, since I experienced the miracle of a change of my own heart.”
And the thing about believing in miracles is that it changes your whole perspective on life. Simple things that I took so for granted, the beauty of a flower, the amazing transformation of a butterfly and even more the birth of a child. All of them now strike me with awe. You see, life itself is a miracle and a gift from God.
I was reading a blog a few years ago by Tim Keller and he said this about the most famous miracles, the ones Jesus did as He walked among us, “Christ’s miracles were not the suspension of the natural order but the restoration of the natural order. They were a reminder of what was prior to the fall and a preview of what will eventually be a universal reality once again- a world of peace, justice, without death and disease or conflict.” Think about it! In God’s reality miracles are not supernatural, they are the most natural thing of all, they are His nature.
We are living in a corrupted sinful world and are so blinded by our own sinfulness that we cannot see that miracles are just God giving us a preview of what life will be like when this place is re-created and made new. We get a glimpse of a miracle every day in the world around us and every now and again, God intervenes in a special way in our life to remind us, a better world is coming, I am here, I love you. Don’t miss it when it happens!
Also, don’t forget to thank and praise Him because, “He is the one you praise, he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. (Deuteronomy 10:21) Our God is an awesome God. Today I will see His miracles, believe, and wonder, knowing soon I get to live where miracles are no longer needed. We will be with our God, we will be home.
It was truly a miracle I survived that night. A friend in a car behind me saw as mine went out of control and was sure that I was a goner. We laughed about it and I soon forgot that feeling of something supernatural occurring in my life. I buried it under an ocean of booze and a mountain of meth. But I see it through clear mind and joyful heart today, His angel there next to me, poking me awake and steering me in the right direction. May you see His miracles all around you today and believe. Just sit for a moment, take a deep breath, and look out at nature. Or maybe your child. Or maybe just breathe, all are miracles, and all are His.
Blessings John
12/4/17