The rain had been relentless for over a week. The river was rising and the National Guard was contacting people who lived in the flood plain, telling them that they needed to evacuate before it was too late. A jeep pulled in the driveway of the house where Jason Seemore lived. Two uniformed guardsmen knocked on his door and soon it opened. “You have to leave,” they told Jason. “The river is rising and your house will be under water by night fall. We’ve come to take you to safety.”

Jason replied, “No, I have talked to God and God told me that He will take care of me. I trust in God’s word, so I will be fine, but thank you for checking on me.”

Further exchange proved futile, so the guardsmen got back in their jeep and left.

Sure enough, by dusk, the river had risen to eight feet and flooded the first floor of Jason’s house. A row boat with two firemen aboard pulled up to the second story window. “We’ve come to take you to safety they said. The river will be over your second floor by morning. Come on, we’ll help you get into the boat.”

“No,” replied Jason. “I have talked to God and God told me that He would take care of me. I trust in God’s word, so I will be fine, but thank you for coming by to help.”

No amount of arguing could persuade Jason to get into the boat, so the firemen left to find other people to rescue.

Sure enough, by morning, the water was over the second story of Jason’s house and Jason was perched on top of the roof. An Air National Guard helicopter descended and dropped a rope ladder down to Jason. “Climb up the rope,” they instructed over a megaphone.

Jason waived them off, shouting over the roar of the copter, “Thank you, but I have talked to God and He said He will take care of me and I have no doubt that He will.”

After several more attempts to get Jason to climb the rope, the helicopter finally left. The water continued rising and finally submersed the entire house. Jason, tired and cold and not a strong swimmer, soon succumbed and was drowned in the torrent of muddy water.

Before long, Jason arrived in heaven and immediately asked to be shown to God’s throne. Soon he was brought in for an audience with the Almighty. “Oh God!” he exclaimed, “You told me you would take care of me, but in my greatest moment of need, you abandoned me and I drowned. How could this happen? If I can’t trust Your word, whose word can I trust? Why didn’t You save me like You promised You would?”

“My dear son,” God replied, “I told you I would help and I did. I sent you a jeep, I sent you a rowboat, and I sent you a helicopter. I’m not sure what else I could have sent.”

What miracles are we hoping for or praying for in our lives? The bible talks about the many miracles performed in biblical times. Jesus manifested loaves and fishes, walked on water and turned it into wine, healed blind beggars and raised people from the dead. In contrast, there seems to be no genuine miracles in our lives today. The world often seems to be in terrible turmoil and life at best is a struggle and then we die on top of it all.

In fear and frustration we turn to religion for answers and find out that “no one can really know the mysterious ways of God.” Or we turn to diversions, some good and some not so good. We devote our lives to work or some cause or hobby, or to lesser pursuits such as alcohol or drugs. All the time, we ignore the nagging question that haunts us all at one time or another. This question can be summed up as: “Who am I, why am I here, and what is this crazy world all about? Where are Jesus’ miracle when we need them the most?

Jesus performed what seemed like miracles, but he also said, “The works I do, you shall also do, but even greater.” What did he mean by this statement? What about our lives today? Are there really miracles around us that we don’t take time to see? Are there answers that could help us make sense of a seemingly senseless world? Could there be simple laws at work in our world that we just don’t understand yet? Could our Creator have created an imperfect universe, or is everything really following a grand and perfect pattern that we cannot yet comprehend. 

Just like Jason, do we overlook the miracles that surround us every day?    The miracle of a baby being born into this world and growing into adulthood?  All the people, friends and family around us? The soft breath of a warm Spring day, the glorious colors of the trees in the Fall or the perfect symmetry of a snowflake in Winter?  Do we overlook the miracle of the abundance of life that surrounds us on our mother earth?  Do we take time to look at the night sky in summer and think about the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy and the hundreds of billions of other galaxies that are out there?  Do we take time to appreciate and take care of the magnificent bodies that we have been given for our journey in life? 

The next time some problem seems overwhelming, stop and make a list of all the miracles and blessings in your life.  Then look at your problem and think about what blessing it holds for you.  Problems serve the purpose of forcing us to grow as human beings, to shake us out of the status quo and make us re-evaluate our thoughts and ideas about certain things, or sometimes to make us re-evaluate and change our whole lives.  How good does creatively approaching and solving a problem make you feel about yourself?

Think of everything in your life as being a miracle and your whole life will then seem like a miracle to you!!!