Miracles
Dear family members,
I want to write this time about miracles because they are so important in helping to build our testimonies and our faith in the events that occur in our lives and, more importantly, in the Doctrine of Christ
"Miracle" is a word a bit difficult to define. Technically it simply means an event that is inexplicable and therefore must be supernatural.
Very often we use it as a synonym for luck or coincidence. We put a pot on the stove and then forget it is there. Pretty soon the whole house is filled with smoke, alarms are going off everywhere, and our heart is pounding out of our chest.
After the crisis is over, we say, "Man, we were lucky we didn't burn the house down!" Or we say, "Man, it's a miracle we didn't burn the house down!" What was it, luck or a miracle?
I guess it depends on one's perspective.
Let me tell you a story out of our family folklore. This involves my older brother who has since passed on, so I don't think he will mind if I tell his story.
He was a senior in high school at the time and was just taking his girlfriend home from a date. They had to stop at a railroad crossing to let a fast moving freight train pass. There were no crossing gates, just a white line painted on the road which you were supposed to stop behind – which he did.
They waited patiently for the train to pass. Suddenly there was this tremendous jolt of the car. Without them being aware of it, the car had crept slowly forward until it hit the train. You can imagine their shock and fright to look up and see the nose of the car right against this speeding train!
After the train had passed, they got out of the car to examine the damage that had been done. They couldn't believe their eyes! The front bumper had been completely sheared off! (In those days cars had bumpers that stuck out in front of the car – they were real bumpers.)
Well, as you can imagine, he had quite a story to tell when he got home. He said he and his girl had been waiting patiently for the train to pass and in the meantime they were having a nice chat and didn't realize the car was slowly inching forward.
It made a good story, but somehow I always felt it was told with a bit of a wink/wink. I think they were kissing. After all, she was his girlfriend; and they had to wait for the train to pass. Why not neck a bit.
As we all know, kissing requires our full attention, if it's going to be an effective kiss, anyway. And, you have to close your eyes. You can't have an effective kiss with your eyes open.
You can talk and still be aware of what's going on around you, but kissing is a different matter. You can lose yourself in it. I think they did!
Anyway, that's my interpretation of what happened.
The family was, of course, totally shocked. Some said, "Man, you were lucky you weren't both killed! Others said, 'Man, it's a miracle you weren't both killed.
What was it, luck or a miracle?
The Lord defines miracles more clearly. Luck and coincidence don't enter into the equation. To Him a miracle is a gift to those who exercise faith in Him. To Him, it is a blessing resulting from righteous living. He gives the gift whenever it is needed, often whether we ask for it or not. Consequently, our lives abound in miracles, both large and small.
Faith and miracles are companions. When men and women have faith, miracles follow. When there is no faith, there is mostly only luck and coincidence.
God is a God of miracles, and examples abound in the scriptures. We think of the feeding of the five thousand, the turning of water into wine, the healing of the centurion's daughter, the 10 lepers cleansed of their leprosy, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and countless others.
But we can also look at our own lives and see miracles everywhere.
Sometimes we pray for a miracle. Sometimes we hope for a miracle, but fail to ask. Sometimes we don't recognize them when they occur because the Lord has used someone else to make them happen or, worst of all, because we think we have solved the problem ourselves.
We pray for the miracle and when it comes we say, That's OK Lord. Don't worry about it. I'm sorry I bothered you. I have fixed it myself.
Miracles can be big or little. The big ones are easier to recognize; the little ones sometimes we consider luck or just a coincidence.
Let me give you two examples from my own life:
I was traveling home from work one day when I saw in front of me a pick-up truck with a large garbage can hanging on the back. I could tell the driver was a gardener because he had lawnmowers, etc., in the back as well. As I got closer to him, I heard a voice say, "Move over."
I did, and as I drew alongside of the truck, we hit a bump in the road and the can bounced right off the pick-up. As I looked in the rear-view mirror, I could see this can bouncing down the road and cars swerving in all directions to miss it.
If I had stayed behind the truck, I would have crashed right into that can – and what would have happened then wouldn't have been pretty.
Was the voice I heard a miracle or just my imagination? I choose the former.
The second story involves genealogy. Before your eyes go lizard on me, let me say that genealogy is a good place for miracles to happen.
My brothers and I had inherited a large collection of family history materials from my mother's side of the family, who for generations had been great record keepers. We decided it would be a great service to the family to put this stuff in book form. So we did.
Two years later we published a book of about 900 pages on our Allred side of the family.
As we talked about what we had done, the question came up about the Mounteer side of the family. The Allred book had taken a long time to do. Would we like to do it again for my father's family?
We decided we would, but the problem was there was no material. We had my mother and father's histories, but nothing else.
So we decided we wouldn't do another book because there just wasn't enough information. The Mounteers were not record keepers like the Allreds had been.
Then a few nights later I had a dream. Four men stood before me dressed in clothes that looked like something out of the 1800's. They were carrying a large box. In my dream I recognized them as Mounteers. I knew who they were, but when I woke up, I only remembered they were Mounteers.
I was allowed to see what was in the box they carried. It was filled with Mounteer memorabilia – journals, pictures, documents, etc.
I told my oldest brother about this dream, and we decided the Lord or our ancestors were telling us that if we did the book, we would find plenty of materials.
So, two years later the Mounteer book was published. Ironically, this one turned out to be over 1000 pages.
Well, those are my stories about miracles. I have several more,but you will have to read my journal to see them. This is long enough already.
But, let me conclude with one more. Miracles can change our lives. They can save our lives both temporally and spiritually.
When we were in the MTC waiting to begin our mission to France, a Sunday night fireside speaker was Brother Sherman Crump, at the time a member of the MTC Missionary Committee. He told a story about one of the Mission Presidents he was acquainted with.
It seems the Mission President had gone to bed early one night after an exhausting day. It was about midnight when he suddenly awoke with a start. One of his young missionaries was in trouble. He knew instantly who it was. He got up and got out his telephone directory and called the elder at his apartment.
However, the phone rang at the apartment of a young woman.
You can imagine his surprise when a woman answered the phone. Rather stunned, he asked to speak to the elder.
Unknown to the Mission President, earlier that day the elder had decided he was going to leave his mission and before he left to commit an immoral act with a young woman he had met. Accordingly, he left his apartment and went to the home of the young woman.
The elder came sheepishly to the phone. After a lengthy conversation with his mission president, he was persuaded to return to his apartment and to his mission - which he afterwards completed honorably.
Was it a miracle that the Lord, who created the heavens and the earth, managed to cross telephone lines that night? Was it a miracle that the Mission President called one apartment and the phone rang in another?
The Lord loves his Mission Presidents and He loves His missionaries! He can and does perform miracles in their behalf.
Let me say again that God is a God of miracles. They occur consistently in our lives. May we recognize them when they happen. May our faith and testimonies be increased as a result, which is their intent and purpose.
May I bear you my testimony that I know of a surety that the gospel is true, that Jesus is the Christ, the creator of our world and all the worlds that surround us in the night sky and beyond.
I know Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration, that there would be no Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without his administration and revelation.
I know the Book of Mormon is true, that it contains the fullness of the gospel as revealed to the ancient inhabitants of this land.
I have come to this knowledge through study and prayer and through revelation from the Holy Ghost. I bare it to you, my family, in the name of Jesus Christ.
