I was listening to the Against the Rules podcast this morning by Michael Lewis, and it started me thinking. I've been bothered by something for a long time, but I couldn't figure out how to put it into words. Miracles.
What is a miracle anyway? I don't guess I have a great definition unless I look at the New Testament. The things that Jesus did in his ministry were miracles. He was born of a virgin. He healed the sick. He gave sight to the blind. He caused the lame to walk. He raised the dead. And, finally, he raised himself from the dead before flying away to Heaven. None of that is explainable. There's no "with the help of" clause. He just did it, and I believe it. I also believe He still does it because I have seen it or at least I think I have.
The podcast starts off by telling the story of Joe Blushtein. You can read the official account at this link (https://abc7.com/joe-blushtein-rescued-saved-coast-guard-rescue/517826/). Basically, he and his brother with some other guys went fishing near Santa Barbara island. On the way back, he fell off the boat and no one noticed. He was in the ocean for hours, and nearly died. This is my worst nightmare because I am terrified of sharks, but that's for another day. Sharks, believe it or not, aren't even what kills you in these situations. It's the cold. People succumb to hyperthermia because the ocean just sucks the heat out of you. But, Joe didn't. He lived.
Now, there are two stories for why Joe lived. Let's start with Joe's first.
Joe says that when he fell overboard he "wasn't living right". He'd been raised to be a Christian, but he wasn't following it. He first started trying to swim to shore, about 13 miles. As he swam, he realized the ocean current was carrying him further out to sea, and he realized all he could do was float and hope someone saw him. If you've ever flown over the ocean or been on a cruise you can see how ridiculous that is. It's so huge that it just seems impossible that someone could find you. He believed he was about to die so he started trying to "get right with God". As he floated, several times he thought it was over. His legs cramped, but they'd stop. He'd get tired because he wasn't in great shape, but he'd have the strength to go on. A seagull would dive down "2 inches from my nose" and wake him up at just the right moment. Finally, the Coast Guard spotted him. They picked him up and he lived. When Joe tells the story he says, "I want to give credit to the Coast Guard and all they do, but they didn't save me. I was saved by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."
The second story is less dramatic but a lot more logical. First off, Joe is a big guy on a fairly small frame. He's kind of fat or well insulated. This matters a lot in a situation like this because it gave him a lot more time. That's the first thing, time. The Coast Guard can find you, but it's going to take some time. The reason they can find you is because of the work of a guy named Arthur A. Allen, an oceanographer who works for them. Prior to WW2, if you were lost at sea, that was it. You died. They didn't even bother to look because there was nothing to be found. With all those downed pilots, we started trying for the first time. George HW Bush was one of those if you remember. He was rescued by a submarine after his plane was shot down. So, we were trying, but we were still terrible at it. This was the problem that Allen tried to solve. Where do we look and how? It's not as simple as you would think. Children drift different than adults. Life boats drift different than sail boats. Fat people different from skinny... and on and on. It wasn't until May of 2001 that Allen began to realize this. That's when he started researching it by throwing things in the ocean. That's right. Lots of things getting thrown in the ocean and then watching and measuring how they reacted. Based on a lot of experiments both on and off the clock, Allen developed equations that could predict where people might be after falling overboard. It took till 2007, but that's what they use now. It's still very very difficult, but we've gotten much better. On an average day, the US loses about ten people at sea. Of the ten, we rescue seven. Of those three, one dies before the Coast Guard is even notified. One dies before they can get there. And, one is never found. Think about that! Because of this man's work we've gone from a lost at sea scenario having a 100% kill rate down to 10%.
So what actually happened to Joe Blushstein? He was fat enough to stay alive long enough for Allen's equations to be used by the Coast Guard to go pick him up.
Is that miraculous? I don't know. Maybe...
With Annika, I have prayed for a miracle so many times that I couldn't even begin to count. When she started, she couldn't sit up, but now, she can walk independently. Her gate isn't great, but it's improving with the help of braces, suits, and even electrical stimulation. I believe God inspired those ideas in people's minds to invent these things. I believe He has provided us with the ability to find them and the means to execute on the information. I am thankful for all of it, but I don't think they are miracles. A miracle is unexplainable, and Annika's progress is explainable. It's the product of two parents that have done everything we could possibly think to do to help her be all she can be. When you call her progress a miracle, it devalues that sacrifice and work. While that bothers me, I don't know that I really care all that much. I am happy for people to see the hand of God regardless of what I think about it. Why should I get in there way? No, what bothers me is the cynical person who hears you say it. They may never say anything, but they are thinking "Seriously? So, why'd my mother die then? These people are crazy". There's a ton of people out there who wouldn't drink a beer if you held a gun to their head. Some of them think the very act is a sin, while others would say that their witness to anyone watching might be damaged. They don't want to get in the way of someone's conversion. I get that, and honor it. It's a great attitude, but I suspect that there are much bigger issues at play than you drinking a beer or not. When we call things miracles that are otherwise explainable, people notice. When we claim that politicians are godly when they clearly aren't, people notice. When we grow our churches not through conversion but just by being the new "it" church in a small town that other parishioners now change to, people notice. People notice fraud, and they hate it. That's why they celebrate the fall of a televangelist. People love to see hypocrisy exposed. On the other hand, they crave the genuine. The real. If God isn't that then He isn't God, and I believe He is. He's nothing but genuine and real. He still loves us. He still performs miracles. He still gives hope to the hopeless. I long for the day when he sets his house back in order and the "real" is all that's left. Will Annika receive a miracle before that time? I don't know, and if not, I don't know why either. That's not my job. My job is to keep asking, and to keep having faith in the "real" that is coming. Any healing before then is temporary anyway, right? We all still die in the end.
This world is not my home.
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