Miracles Do Happen

Today I had a visit from a “young” man who has been raising his twin boys, now 11 years old, by himself with the help of his mother.  The mother of the boys has been out of the picture for most of their lives.  I’ve known them since the boys were little.  This man, I’ll call him Dan, has been going to school for an associate’s degree.  He wants to work in heating and cooling.  He dug into his back pack and pulled out a document with great pride.  It was his induction into Phi Beta Kappa because of his 4.0 grade point average.  It will enable him to qualify for scholarships to go even further with his education.  The boys, well they’re boys, but two of the best bred pre-teens in the city!   

It touched my heart when Dan told me, “Remember a year ago when I asked you to visit my granddaughter in the hospital because she had cancer—she was one at the time?”  Well, I have to tell you that she is now free of cancer.  The doctors tested her before surgery to locate the tumor exactly, and when they opened her little body, there was NO cancer!!  Can you believe it?!  Miracles DO happen.  She’s two now and growing her hair back and looking good and healthy.”  He just beamed when he related this story of his older daughter’s baby.

Before he left, I gave Dan some money to help him get something for his boys for Christmas, and he wrapped it in paper, tucked it into an envelope and hid it in a secret pocket saying, “You just don’t know what you’ll meet on the street, and this is all I have in the world for my boys for Christmas.”

Today I also got word that a friend in his mid sixties died this morning of Lou Gehrig’s disease.  And, the mystery of living and dying, of loving and being loved continues in God’s merciful presence and graceful and wonderful fidelity.  I’ll preside at his funeral three days before Christmas with a grateful heart for having known this brave soul and his marvelous wife and spirited children. -Br. Bob