Decades ago, I decided to take CPR and basic first aid classes.  Afterwards, came EMT, Paramedic, rescue and police.  I was looking forward to the time when I would be involved in grand life-saving events.  I saw myself performing CPR on a lifeless body and watching as this person suddenly burst back to life and won iron man competitions the same afternoon.  But, those things don't happen and I was disappointed in myself.

Of course, saving lives is a daily event in the emergency fields.  These guys put their lives on the line every day with fantastic results.  However, I found over time that life saving doesn't have to be that dramatic.  Saving a life may be nothing more than recognizing a symptom.  It may be nothing more than seeing something abnormal and acting.  Maybe it's scanning the scene of an emergency and recognizing a danger that others don't see.  Life saving is knowledge and observation.

I believe it's the same with miracles.  Sometimes they tip-toe into the room.  They slide in without notice.  The effects of a miracle may not be evident for days, weeks, months or even years.  It may be evident  only  to the few or the one.

To the world as a whole, it may be a small thing but to the person on the receiving end, it's as magnificent as frogs on a Pharaoh.  One word, one thought or one prayer can be as important to one person as a jawbone in the hands of a Hebrew in need of a hair net.  God simply told Gideon not to be afraid and told Joseph the same.  But the results were world shattering.

There's a man I've known all my life.  I've been in awe of him for as long as I can remember because he's older than me and a genius to boot.  Folks who know me will happily tell you that I'm as slow as Mrs. Butterworth in a cafeteria freezer.  Not so with my friend.  Mathematical problems that had me agonizing for hours could be answered by him after little more than a glance.  While I was in physical ed., he was in physics.  He studied French, German and Russian language.  I'm still working on English.  But, you know that.

With all his intelligence, there was something dark about my friend.  He didn't believe in fairy tales but that's nothing unusual in today's world.  He called himself an agnostic but there was a hatred hidden in there.  He hated religion in general.  He hated preachers.  He hated churches.  He hated God but he specifically hated Jesus.  He was a musician of sorts and would write songs mocking Christianity:

"I've got nails in my hands.
I've got nails in my feet.
I've got the Jesus blues."

Pretty hateful stuff.

One day, however, he said something strange.  At least, it was strange for him.  He said, "You know, I don't believe in Jesus.  But the idea of Jesus is about the best thing we've got going in this world.  If all people would follow His teachings, we'd have no war, no hunger.  It would be a perfect world."

My friend was saved at the age of 62.  I don't know what changed him.  It may have been the right man at the right time or the right message at the right time.  It might have been a word, an act or a prayer.  But whatever it was, it shook him to the core.  It made a hater a lover.  Now, he writes songs of praise.

In my own simplistic fashion, I believe Jesus was preparing him for that moment long before Adam took his first breath.  All it took was a trigger.  It might have been a traumatic event or something so small as to be unrecognizable to the people around him.  But in the end, that hatred melted like oleo in a volcano.  The fairy tale became real.

Now, that's miraculous.