Do you believe in miracles? Maybe more specifically do you believe miracles happen still today? The Bible is filled with examples of miracles that Jesus performed in his life. Jesus turned water into wine, Jesus fed 5000 with just a little bread and a few fish, and Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead. I believe God is at work and performs miracles even today. I believe I witnessed one on July 12th, 2017. It involved my dad and it was the 2nd miracle of three that he was part of. Let me start at the beginning.
My dad was watching our two youngest children (ages 6 and 7 at the time) along with a niece and nephew of ours. They had spent a few days together and were at a local pool swimming for the afternoon. They finished swimming, the boys got in the pickup with grandpa (my dad), and the young girls road home with grandma. The girls made it home first and were waiting for the guys to get home. Eventually my dad came crawling into the house. Something was not right. We learned later that when the boys got into the pickup to come home, my father had a full body seizure. This was the first of his life and he didn’t know what it was. The miracle was not the seizure but when it happened. He was in a parked vehicle in a quiet parking lot. It takes less than 30 seconds to enter a vehicle, put on your seat belt, and put the car in drive. Trust me, I have timed it. That was the time frame for my dad to have a seizure without harming himself or somebody else. The seizure could have occurred anytime while they were swimming, anytime while driving home with two young boys in the backseat, or any other time during that few days. Something protected my father, the boys, and those around him from getting hurt during that first seizure. I believe God had a hand in it. I will forever look at their lives as miracles! Skeptics can say that was pure coincidence but just a few weeks later God’s protection was demonstrated once again.
Just a few weeks after watching our youngest two children, my dad picked up our oldest two daughters and headed to Ohio. At that time the doctors believed my dad had simply been dehydrated a few weeks earlier in the pickup with the boys. There were no other signs of seizure activity. They were going to Ohio pick up my two nieces and come back to Kansas for some good family time. On their way home they stopped at St. Louis to visit the Arch and then took an impromptu float trip down a river in canoes. Some of us had his dehydration on our minds and were worried but they eventually made it safely back to Kansas City. The date was Wednesday July 12th, 2017. I normally work at the office but for some reason I was working from home that day. They pulled into our driveway and the girls got out of the car and were sharing all the highlights with my wife Andrea. My dad began cleaning trash from the pickup. That’s when I heard him yell for help. I rushed out to find him laying on the grass having a major seizure. It lasted less than a minute. My heart sunk. We remained calm and called an ambulance. My dad went to the hospital and just two days later the doctors found a cancerous brain tumor. Once again, the seizure was not the miracle; it was the timing. Anytime on the road to Ohio and back he could have had a seizure. Anytime in the canoe on the river tragedy could have struck. I fully believe God watched over everyone that day again. The seizure that controlled his entire body happened safely in my yard within a few minutes of parking the pickup. God is good! My dad, two of my daughters, my son, my nephew, two of my nieces, and everyone on the roads those few days all survived his first seizures. The picture attached is of the four girls on their way to KS in Columbia, MO just a few hours before dad’s second seizure. I will forever look at their lives as miracles! Those are two of the three miracles that God has done in the life of my father. I witnessed one of them firsthand. I believe God can and does do miracles even today!
The third miracle I referenced earlier is the salvation we receive through Jesus Christ and the eternal life we receive through His death and resurrection. I have shared about this in more detail regarding my father and how his journey with cancer has brought him back to Jesus. You can read more about it here (http://writingsbyshay.blogspot.com/2021/06/cancer-saved-my-dads-life.html). My father has experienced the miracle of accepting Jesus Christ as his savior. God sacrificed His only Son, Jesus, on the cross to free us from our sins. That is difficult to understand from an earthly perspective, but God is not of this world. He created it and everything in it! That’s what makes our salvation a miracle in my eyes! A Father loved His children (us) so much that He sacrificed His Son for us (John 3:16).
Whew! I know that is a lot to take in! I could spend days sharing with you more details about my dad. I love him and I love how God has worked in his life. I want his story to be an encouragement to others. I want everyone to know that our kids and nieces and nephews are alive because of God! I want everyone to know Jesus and what He did for you. Father’s Day is this Sunday! Give a hug or send a note of love to the fathers in your life. When we show love to one another our heavenly Father smiles from ear to ear and His heart overflows with joy! Happy Father’s Day (early)!
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