God Still Performs Miracles

I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.
Psalm 77:11, 12 (NIV)

Have you ever cried out to know the God of miracles from days gone by? I have. I wrote in my journal one day “remind me again, Lord, who You are”. My thoughts were drawn to Psalm 77. My heart could relate to Asaph, the writer of that psalm. He cried out to God for help. He cried out to God to hear him. His soul refused to be comforted. He wondered if God had forgotten him - if God had forgotten to be merciful. Then, Asaph made a choice. It was one that I followed that day. Together with Asaph, I chose to remember that God’s ways are holy – so unlike mine. I chose to remember that my God is the same God who performed miracles as He lead His people to display His power. I read of the awesome power of God as He led His people through the sea, I heard myself ask “why don’t You do miracles like that anymore?” Silently, I heard the reply “I do”. Here is the eyewitness account of a modern day miracle as told to me by my mom and verified by my dad, my aunts and many other witnesses.

When my parents were children, 9 and10 years of age, they both attended the Smoland Mission Covenant Church. It was a small Swedish church on the Manitoban prairies. The pastor at that time was a man by the name of Rev. Kenny Englund. About 8 years prior to coming to be their pastor, Kenny had fallen from the roof of a construction project and had broken his back. The result of this fall had not been paralysis (a miracle in itself) but rather had been excruciating migraines day in and day out. For years, though in constant pain, Rev. Englund continued to serve the Lord through preaching. However, the continuous pain took its’ toll on him and he made the difficult decision to leave the ministry. He decided that he would make his announcement from the pulpit the following Sunday. On Thursday of that week, Rev. Englund took a trip to the neighboring town of Neepawa with his friend and fellow pastor from the Anglican Church in Minnedosa. While they traveled, he shared his decision with his friend.
A storm was brewing and by the time the two men headed for home it was a fierce prairie storm. The thunder roared as lightening flashed across the sky. Torrents of rain made it almost impossible to see the road ahead and so the friends pulled the car off to the side of the road to wait out the storm. Suddenly, a bolt of lightening rocketed to earth just outside of the car. There was no mistaking how close it had come as the car trembled with the ferocity of the strike. Unbeknown to anyone but God and Rev. Englund, the migraine stopped. Immediately, it was gone. The unwavering cycle of pain was broken. Unwilling to say anything at that point, the two men finished their trip.

On Sunday morning, it was a much different announcement that was made from the pulpit of that little Swedish church. Rev. Englund was able to declare to his people how God had saved him from leaving the ministry and that he had been completely and totally healed! His testimony had such a profound effect on my mom that when Rev. Englund asked the congregation to think on what they needed to trust God for, my mom knew the answer needed to be “her life” and she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior that very day!

You would think that this would be the end of the story but God was not finished demonstrating his mighty power. You see, this miracle only set the stage for God to lead and guide this congregation in another miraculous way. At the time that Rev. Englund was pastor of that little Smoland Church, there was dissension among the people as to whether or not they should stay out in the country or relocate their congregation to the nearby town of Minnedosa. They had been considering the relocation for a fair long time. As always, there were pros and cons to each side and they had been unable to come to a decision. That Sunday, when Rev. Englund announced his healing, one of the members ran home to get his camera so that they could mark this joyous occasion. There are numerous photographs of Rev. Englund shaking hands with his parishioners as they left the church that day. I have seen some of them. In the background, on the wall, there was a poster. It was put there on behalf of the church library to remind people that there were books due. On it there was a drawing of a clock with the simple phrase “Time’s Up!” The time on the poster read 1:50.

The next day, another one of those fierce prairie storms had just let up and my dad, my grandfather and a hired man were headed out to do some work on the farm when they saw smoke rising from the direction of the church. They went, as quickly as they could, to the church to check it out. When they got there, they found the church had been struck by lightening and was being wracked by flames. They dove into action. There was no way to save their church but there were so many things that needed to be saved. They managed to carry out a number of items including some pews, a partially scorched piano and the church clock before the Smoland Mission Covenant Church succumbed to the flames.

The tiny congregation chose to rebuild – in Minnedosa. They felt that God had made the decision for them but they really didn’t know how right they were until they realized that the clock, which was permanently frozen at the time of the lightening strike, read 1:50. Time’s Up! God had spoken. Many of them had the photographs to prove it!

Have you ever read the book of Job? In Job 38:35, God is basically reminding Job who He is. God said, “Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct it?” God can. Two bolts of lightening. Two miracles! Twice God had intervened to lead and guide His people.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die…a time to heal,
A time to tear down and a time to build…
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2a, 3b (NIV)