Let me recount a few experiences from my life that I interpret as miracles:

The first is a miraculous healing of my wife Mary from a serious case of endometriosis. Endometrial cells are the cells that line the uterus as it prepares for the possible implanting of a fertilized egg. These cells come and go as part of the normal menstrual cycle; however, if they somehow escape the uterus via the fallopian tubes and enter the abdominal cavity, they can grow there. This happened to Mary, and they had fused the uterus to the abdominal wall, causing much pain and preventing pregnancy. We had tried for five years to get her pregnant, to no avail. Finally, the doctor said that he needed to perform a laparoscopy on her to see what needed to be done. He prepared us for the most likely outcome, which he would perform if needed while she was under: hysterectomy.

We were married ten years before either of us had an encounter with Christ, so this medical crisis was happening just about the time that we were new believers, in 1979. The “Charismatic Movement” was in full swing, and we attended a Charismatic Lutheran (oxymoron?) church. This church believed that “gifts of the Spirit” were for today, including prophesy and healing. So of course, we went up for prayer. As Mary knelt and was prayed over, I stood behind her and prayed as well. Suddenly, during the prayer, both of us began to feel heat: she from inside her, and I radiating from her. The pastor prophesied that she would be pregnant within six months. Shortly thereafter, Mary went under the knife, not knowing whether this would end her childbearing hopes. As you may have guessed, the doctor was amazed to find that the damage was only minor, and he did nothing. Almost immediately thereafter she conceived, although she subsequently miscarried at 12 weeks. Right after that, she conceived again with our oldest child (unless you count the miscarried baby, which we do). Now I know that this is not enough to convince a skeptic, and it could be just chance. But taken with the heat we both experienced, it was a significant event.

Another experience occurred about that same time. Our church was conducting an international conference, and we had two men from Norway staying with us. My wife had to take two other Norwegians to their host family late at night. I went to bed. As she was driving back home with one of our group home teenage girls in the car with her, she was going the speed limit on I35W, the main corridor in Minneapolis, when a car passed her — skidding sideways! Mary said she could see a crazed expression on the driver’s face as he passed, and they both ended up stopped. The man and Mary took off; our foster daughter was in tears.

Meanwhile, back at home, I suddenly awakened, and had an urge to pray. I did, but didn’t know why; then I fell back asleep. When Mary returned home, her face was like that of George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” as he was calling out, “Clarence! Clarence!”. She described what had happened, and as we compared notes, we saw that I had awoken and prayed just at the time this crazed driver was menacing her.

Another amazing (read: miraculous) string of events occurred after this:

After our daughter was born and was six months old, we went to Israel, as we were led to do through prayer. We planned to stay for a year. We lived in an apartment, and Mary baked and delivered some cookies to our upstairs neighbors. They loved us, and thought we should get to know their son Rollie and his wife Tammy, who lived several blocks away in a swankier apartment. The parents set up a date, and we visited their place. We hit it off and had a great time with them, until Rollie asked me what synagogue we attended. I replied that we didn’t attend a synagogue, as we were Christians. Immediately, the conversation frosted, and it was obvious we were no longer welcome. Within a few more sentences, we were out the door, bewildered (but we knew what had happened).

We lived in Haifa on Mount Carmel, and one day we picked up an Israeli soldier that was hitchhiking across the Galilee. He was a New York Jew that had made “aliyah” to Israel. We were pleasant, but found the guy thoroughly obnoxious. Nevertheless, when he learned that we were from the Twin Cities, he said that his father lived there — where in the Twin Cities? We said St. Paul. He said really? That’s where his father lived — where in St. Paul? We said, actually we lived in Shoreview. He said really? That’s where his father lived. It turned out his father lived two blocks away! To be polite, we ended up exchanging phone numbers, but we had no intention of seeing him again.

Meanwhile, our ex-friends Rollie and Tammy ended up going overseas to study… in of all places, the Twin Cities, at the U of M. We had maintained our friendship with his parents, so when the time came for us to return to the States, we asked them if they had anything they needed delivered to their son — which they did.

So we returned back home, wondering what the Lord wanted us to do next. I returned to my job as a computer designer at Control Data, but we once again received word through prayer and circumstances that we should return to Israel, this time for a more extended period. We delivered the package to Rollie and Tammy and managed to overcome his rejection, establishing a friendship again. They knew of our desire to return to Israel, and in the end offered to have us live in their apartment!

But we had a problem. We needed to transport our household goods to New York in order to put them on a ship to Haifa. We could use our car, but then what would we do with it?

The phone rang. It was the obnoxious guy from the Galilee, and he wanted to drop by while visiting his father. Reluctantly but politely, we agreed. He came we and we shared experiences. When we told him our quandary, he said he’d buy our car from us in New York. He accepted our price, and I don’t think he even went out and looked at the car. Could we trust him? What if he didn’t show up or decided not to buy? We had only hours between the time we dropped off the shipment and boarded our flight, and we needed to return the U-Haul trailer and get rid of the car. And what if the check bounced? By this time we had two kids under 3 years old.

Well, it all went like clockwork, just as planned. Before we knew it, we were in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, picking up a new Subaru to drive across Europe to Venice, and then by ferry to Haifa. We arrived in Haifa on Rosh Hashanah (New Year), so the stores and restaurants were closed, but Rollie and Tammy had arranged for us to feast on a sumptuous holiday meal at their neighbors’. We had a car, apartment, and a job. Wow! What the Lord can do. We sold our car to a man we didn’t like and had met for just a few hours, in just the right city for our shipment. We lived in an apartment rented to us by people that didn’t like us, halfway around the world. By the way, the check was good. So is God!

Besides these, we’ve seen many other extraordinary improbable things occur to our friends. Maybe I can add some later, but it’s 4AM and I can hardly make out the keyboard…