Miracles, signs and wonders

Well, maybe you had to be there...but God showed up in a couple of really cool ways today. First of all, I was out running errands with Mun Hee in another part of town when we happened to come upon Kerry (not his real name), a young man who recently joined our food co-op. He was sitting at a table outside a coffee shop. This guy is amazing. Two and a half years ago he had an accident that killed him instantly and if it weren't for God's intervention, he'd have stayed that way - dead, I mean. I believe it's a miracle that an ambulance crew just happened to be driving along that highway. They witnessed the accident and immediately came to his rescue and saved his life. His body and his brain were very badly damaged, but Kerry has such a strong will to live and such fierce determination - and of course God's power was at work too - that he has regained his ability to talk and to walk (with the help of a cane) - and walk he does! He walks all over Vancouver. When he found out about our food co-op he walked all the way from where he is living to the Women of Hope house to pick up his food order, and then he carried it all the way home with him, about 25 city blocks or more! (We've since given him a little cart with wheels that he can use to transport the food.) The next week he showed up early to help us package up the food and he continued to come for a few weeks, but he didn't show up last week. We wondered where he was.

On Easter Sunday while we were eating supper together after Immanuel, our street church, Kerry told me the story of his accident. He also shared how God has become his Father, and how He speaks to him and corrects him, and protects him and guides him. He doesn't consider himself a Christian and he doesn't go to church, but he told me that, because of all that He has done for him, he surrendered his life to God last fall. His story and his witness were such an inspiration to me that I wept that night while I lay in bed. I thanked God for demonstrating to Kerry - and to me through Kelly's testimony - His faithfulness, His kindness and tender loving care.

So, today, when we saw him outside the coffee shop he didn't remember us. I introduced myself and Mun Hee and asked him if he remembered Partners in Hope and the food co-op. He said he didn't. He explained that he'd had a terrible grand mal seizure recently and it wiped out a lot of his memory. I asked him if he still wanted to be part of the food co-op and he said yes, so I sat down to write out the contact information for him. Then I asked him if he remembered that he had an intimate relationship with God. He said he didn't, and so I reminded him of all that he had told me about God and how He guided him and watched over him. He listened with an expression of wonder on his face and then he thanked me and told me how inspiring it was and how he'd wondered about God and whether he knew Him. I asked him if Mun Hee and I could pray for him and he said, "If that's not too much to ask." Too much to ask?! Wow, it was a privilege!

It's so inspiring to see the way that God works in people's lives and how He cares so deeply for each one of us! I had work to do at the house today; I didn't plan on going out at all, but I'm so glad that when Mun Hee asked me to take her shopping I said yes. It's absolutely amazing how God put us together with Kerry. He knew that Kerry needed to be reminded that he has a Father in Heaven who loves him and is with him.

Will you join me in praying for Kerry? I pray that he will remember to come to the house on Friday to fellowship with us as we package the co-op food and share a meal together. I believe that the Lord brought Kerry to us for a reason. He needs fellowship and discipling. He needs friends who love him. His family live far away and there's estrangement there too. Thank you Father for bringing Kerry to us, and thank You that You are so faithful and so kind and so loving. Please restore Kerry's memories of all that You've done for him in the past. Surround him with a sense of Your presence with him and fill him with the knowledge of Your love. Lord, I plead Your protection over Kerry, over his mind and over his health, and I thank you for his determination and his courage. Please heal all the broken places in his body and his soul and repair the damage that was done to his brain by the accident as well as the seizure. Bless him abundantly - and I know that You do. I ask all this in Jesus' Name.

The other cool thing God did today was respond to my prayers for our laptop computer. I had to do some work to prepare for the two recovery meetings we have coming up this week (we use a digital projector to put up the study and the songs) but I wasn't able to get it done because the monitor on the laptop remained black each time I started it up. I restarted the computer several times and then put it away for a while, but each time I came back and tried again the monitor wouldn't light up. So I closed it again and asked Lorna and Connie to agree with me in prayer that God would fix whatever was wrong with the laptop. Then I laid hands on it and prayed and when I opened up it up again, the monitor lit up! Hallelujah!

Thank You Lord for Your amazing Love and Faithfulness! I love You!

Here's a cool satellite photo. You can find out where it is by opening Google Maps and entering this location: 43°38'43.00"N 115°59'33.50"W. Click on "Hybrid" you'll see the satellite image.