If Only You Believe in Miracles

Sometimes miracles aren’t a big deal, unless it happens to be your miracle.

Last week, while I was out walking on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, I saw a plastic card sitting on the pavement. It turned out to be a live debit card issued by one of the major banks. After finishing my daily exercises, I drove over to the closest branch office of that bank. It was out of my way, but what is an extra 10 or 15 minutes? I gave the card to the branch manger who assured me he would immediately call the owner of the card and give her the good news. If she knew she had lost that card, I would expect she was praying for a miracle. If not, I imagine a brief prayer of thanksgiving passed through her mind when she received the branch manager’s phone call. I didn’t do anything remarkable. It didn’t even cost me $1.00 in gasoline, but for someone I will likely never meet, it was a miracle.

As part of my morning ritual, I watch a lecture or sermon on Youtube while drinking a cup of coffee. While listening to the King of Las Vegas, Steve Wynn opine on the secrets of running one of the three greatest hotels in the world, it occurred to me that much of what Steve was promoting could be used by churches. His managers collect stories about employees who went the extra mile to make a guest’s experience—extraordinary. The story appears almost immediately on the Hotel Employee Internet. Within a few hours, a large photograph of the hero of the hour appears on the wall in the employee area. As a result, employees are actively looking for an opportunity to get their name up on that board by providing the highest quality service in the world.

Joel Osteen believes in miracles. He not only tells his congregation to expect miracles in their lives, he encourages them to look for opportunities to, “Be a miracle for someone else.” When he hears about a member of Lakewood who has done something—extraordinary, whether it was something large, like starting a ministry for children with autism that has gone nationwide, or something small like driving an old lady to church every week for several years, they get an atta-boy from the pulpit. Sometimes Joel names names and puts the camera on miracle worker. Sometimes they remain anonymous, but he gives enough details that the person receiving the complement and their friends know who Joel is talking about.

What if I started every day with a prayer, not only asking God for my needs, but asking him for an opportunity to be a miracle in another person’s life? Having had the opportunity to be a miracle here and there over the course of my life, I have learned that it is a blessing to be a blessing. It also seems that there is, at least some correlation between being a blessing and receiving a blessing.