AMAZING, ASTOUNDING, UNBELIEVABLE, INCREDIBLE
...seventeen miracles and counting...
I have defined a "miracle" to be an event that has the following two characteristics:
- Before the event occurred, I would have thought that the probability of it happening was extremely low. I'm not talking about a 1% chance or a 0.1% chance. I'm talking about something that is so improbable that I wouldn't expect it to happen in a lifetime.
- I think the event is interesting.
Based on that definition, I have witnessed 17 miracles. The first four are described in my testimony. Others were answers to supplication prayers. And here are some more:
I collect pennies. I have two huge glass jars that I have been filling with pennies for many many years. Most people think this is silly. They find it ridiculous to collect something as worthless as pennies. However, my father was one of the few people who respected my collection. Whenever he saw me, he gave me all of his pennies.
My father died in 1997, and about a month after that, something strange began to happen. I began finding pennies much more frequently than I had before. It was truly bewildering how often I was finding pennies. So, I like to think that these pennies are being sent to me from my father... pennies from Heaven. Whenever I find one, I think of my father, and I believe that he's watching me.
Over time, the frequency that pennies come to me gradually decreased. But I believe that, even today, it is still significantly higher than it was before my father died.
Then, after May 16, 2004 (the day I met God), I began finding dimes with an inordinately high frequency. While I had hardly ever found dimes on the ground before, I began finding them regularly. But there were also other places I would find dimes a lot. For example, when I bought lunch at the cafeteria, my change might be something like 54 cents, and not only did I get four pennies, but the cashier also gave me five dimes. So now, whenever I find a dime, I think of my God, and I believe that He's watching me. Like the pennies, the frequency that dimes came to me decreased over time, but I think it's still significantly higher than it was before May 16, 2004.
On the morning of February, 2005, I drove to a metro station to go to Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the main parking lot was full, so I had to park further away in the supplementary parking lot. I was in D.C. for a few hours, and then, in the early afternoon, I returned to my car. There was something fluttering under my windshield wiper, like an advertisement or a ticket. But it was neither. It was a fresh, crisp ten-dollar bill! How could a ten dollar bill find its way under my windshield wiper? Well my explanation is that, like the ten-cent coins, the ten-dollar bill was also given to me by God.
I have tried to train my dog, Queen, not to walk into the street without my permission, but apparently, all she has learned is that she shouldn't walk into the street when I am watching her. When she doesn't think I'm looking, she sees no problem with going into the street. And my dog doesn't cross the street. Instead, she wanders around throughout the street, sniffing the asphalt here and there.
There is a little wooded area right near my home, and I liked to take the dogs there and let them run around free. I wasn't concerned about them getting into any trouble, because there's plenty to smell in the woods, and it's a good distance to anywhere where they are likely to encounter any people. And they don't stray very far from me anyway.
Well, one particularly sunny day, I was sitting in a grassy area in the woods, reading a book, while the dogs ran free. Then I got a call on my cell phone. The man on the another end told me that Queen had run across Route 123. I was shocked! I drove the car to where he was, and indeed, there was Queen, on the far side of Route 123.
Now Route 123 is a highway. There are four to six lanes going in each direction, and there are always plenty of cars on it. It's true that I regularly walk across it without waiting for the light, but I generally have to wait for a gap in the traffic. My dog wouldn't have done that. And yet, there was Queen, completely unharmed, and there were no signs of any car accidents. I find that completely astounding. But this story isn't over yet.
About a year and a half later, I again received a phone call from somebody who had caught Queen when she was wandering through Route 123. Again, she had no injury and there were no car accidents. And if that isn't remarkable enough, the same thing happened a third time. And the fourth time she crossed that highway, it was during rush hour.
I play small-stakes poker with friends about once a month. In February, 2008, we were playing the last game of the night, which is relevant because people tend to bet a little looser in the last game, more willing to put money in the pot, so this is often one of the best games of the night to win. We were playing a poker variant called Hong's Bong. In this game, each player gets one card in the hole (a card that nobody else is allowed to see) and four cards face up. Also, there are four face-up "community" cards placed in the middle of the table, and anybody can use the community cards. At the end of the game, each player selects a five-card poker hand with the following restrictions: It must consist of two community cards, two of the player's up cards, and the player's hole card. Also, in each of the five rounds, each player is permitted to trade one of their cards for a new card.
So, I was dealt a hole card of the seven of clubs, and my first up card was the eight of spades — not a very promising start. I traded the eight and received the king of diamonds. Then the first community card came: The ten of diamonds. In the first round of betting everybody checked (passed).
My next up card was the ace of diamonds. Since both of my up cards were diamonds and the community card was also diamonds, I decided to try for a flush. So I exchanged my hole card for... the queen of diamonds! Now I just needed one of the last three community cards to be a diamond. But I couldn't believe it when I saw the next community card was the jack of diamonds! I had a royal flush!!! The highest possible hand! Some poker players never get a royal flush in their entire lives, and here, I had one with four rounds of betting still to come! But that's not all...
I traded my third and fourth up cards, getting the eight and nine of diamonds for a seven-card royal flush! I know that I couldn't play a seven-card hand, but it's still truly incredible. But it gets even better...
Although it's very exciting to get an incredible hand like a royal flush, it's not so good if everybody else folds early. However, the last two community cards were the six of spades and the six of clubs. I looked at one of my opponent's hands to see that two of his up cards were the six of diamonds and the six of hearts! He had a four of a kind — a huge hand! So, with what will probably be the only royal flush of my life, I was playing against a hand that was practically impossible to fold!!! (And he didn't fold it.)
I haven't calculated the probability that all of this could happen to me in a hundred lifetimes. But I think it's safe to say that I had witnessed another miracle.
In one of my Bible study groups, we were learning about temptation. Then the leader of the discussion asked everyone what their greatest temptation was. I said gluttony. I have a New Year's Resolution to stick to the diet that my doctor recommended, and I keep that resolution only 7 out of 10 days, on average. So, the group prayed for God to help me with this temptation.
The next day... The very next day, I arrived at work to see this. ↓ 
The door on the right side of the picture leads to my office. And the alcove on the left is where, just one day before, there were two vending machines. These vending machines had proven to be a strong temptation for me. And suddenly they were gone.
If you don't think that's incredible, consider the number of times the vending machines have been moved in my nearly-two years at this job. Not one. I later found out they had been moved to the first floor. But that doesn't make much sense, because our company has many more offices on the fourth floor (my floor) than the first floor. So I think this was an act of God, and I challenge you to come up with a better explanation.
I have witnessed more miracles, some of which can be found here and here. God shows me one or two miracles a year, on average. I certainly appreciate these miracles, as they make it very easy to maintain my faith, though I sincerely hope that I don't need them. Keep an eye on this page, because I wouldn't be surprised if more miracles are coming my way...