The Miracle Box

Did you ever read a story in the Bible that made you sad? This one did to me. Matthew 13:54-58   - Coming to his hometown, Jesus began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Every time I read this I feel sad. At first, I wasn’t sure why. I do remember reflecting on those people in Jesus’ hometown and thinking, How could they not believe in Him when they saw all this? Miracles! Healings! Amazing teaching! As I thought about it though, I realized many of us sometimes do the same thin...

  The Man Who Just Showed Up   Immediately after graduation from college I got my first job. I was twenty-two and was slated to be the director of a chapter of InteVarsity Christian Fellowship on a college campus in a small city in North Carolina.   Now that I had a job, I wanted to build some equity, so with a little help from my parents I bought a small run-down house in a rougher part of my new town. As it turns out, it was a lot rougher than I had thought.   My neighbors were very sweet, but across the street was a brothel and I actually took occupancy of my house by removing a prostitute and all her drug paraphernalia. Drug dealers routinely used the sidewalk in front of my new house to do their transactions. I often heard gun shots. The neighborhood was full of abandoned houses. I was the only white person for blocks.   The house itself was a real renovation project. No electricity. No running water. It should have been a tear-down, but bein...

Many years ago, when I was a graduate student at Wheaton College in Illinois, I worked as a waitress at a restaurant, paying for my tuition and apartment out of my job so that when I graduated, I wouldn’t have any debt. With that arrangement, there wasn’t a lot of extra money. In fact, one year, it was coming up on Christmas and I had no way to get home to Massachusetts to be with my family. I had a car, but it was not in good enough shape to get all the way home. I didn’t have a ride either, but there was a bus going to Boston from Wheaton in a couple of days. I worked all the shifts that I could get at the restaurant, saving up my tips, and hoping to get enough for that bus fare. The night before the payment was due for the bus to reserve my seat, I paid my bills and ended up with no extra money at all. In fact, I got down to the point, literally, where I had one dollar. It looked like I was going to have to spend Christmas by myself in my apartment. I was praying about it a ...

                                                                   Photo by Szilvia Basso on Unsplash   There are many modern miracles which we've been sharing here on The Miracle Blog, but of course there are many recorded in the Bible as well. One of my favorites is from Mark 9:17-27. 17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” 19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it...

Hi All, 1 Chronicles 16:8-12 - Give thanks to the Lord and pray to Him. Tell the nations what He has done. Sing to Him; sing praises to Him. Tell about all His miracles. Be glad that you are His; let those who seek the Lord be happy. Depend on the Lord and His strength; always go to Him for help. Remember the miracles He has done, His wonders, and His decisions. Have you ever had a close call with physical danger and somehow you came away safe and unharmed even though it didn't seem possible that you escaped? It wasn't anything you did to save yourself, it was something else? It seems everyone has had an experience like that. Was it just luck, good fortune, fate... or something else? My good friend, Mike and his wife were visiting my wife and I on their way down to Florida for a few months last winter. We've all been friends for more than fifty years and they always stop in South Carolina to stay with us for a few days on their way down from New Jersey. On the second day ...

  A House Story This story was told to me by good friends who we first met back during our days in Scotland. God has brought us together again more closely in recent years. I'm very thankful for that. They're great people and strong followers of Christ. I'm also inspired and encouraged when I talk with them. Fellowship with other believers does that for us as does sharing our faith experiences. Here's just one example of God's intervention in their lives.                                                                                                                                 ...

            Today's miracle story was shared with me by good friends, Kris and David McBride. It's about their son, Andrew. Kris wrote this piece. It's called: There's Gonna be Big Trouble     When our infant son, Andrew was only ten months old, he was diagnosed with an aggressive leukemia known as AML. Just like that, our normal world of hanging out with other parents, preparing meals, taking the kids to see grandparents, and walks in the neighborhood was replaced with teams of doctors, nurses, blood draws, procedures, and weeks in the hospital.     The doctors only gave Andrew a 25% chance of survival and that was only with a bone marrow transplant. We went from wondering what activities Andrew would enjoy to wondering if he would see his next birthday. My husband, David and I had to hold tight to a couple of anchors for support. One was our faith in God and quite honestly it was our main anchor. The second anchor was to...