We Will See Miracles… or at Least Some Minor Good Fortune

One of the best movies I have ever seen is the Hebrew film Ushpizin.  It tells the story of an extremely poor Jewish couple that are trying to scrape together enough money to pay their bills and prepare for a religious holiday.  At one point the two are talking about their situation and Moshe, the husband, tells his wife that the Lord will provide, they simply haven’t prayed enough.  His wife, Mali, nods in agreement and kicks him out of the house to go pray.  On the way out the door Moshe turns to his wife and says, “we will see miracles.”

And they do.  At least sort of.  Someone from a charity randomly slips $1000 under Moshe’s door, a gift for the holiday which need not repaid, and Moshe and Mali are in business.  Now, in the film it is obvious that this is a miracle and it is apparent that Moshe and Mali see it as such.  I mean, they literally dance for joy and Moshe goes running around like a madman.  It is crazy.

The first few times I saw the movie I was right there with them, I could totally see the miracle in what happened.  But after a few more viewings, the effect diminished, I began to see this less as miracle and more as a stroke of good fortune.  The entire situation can be explained so readily, it was random yes, but miraculous?

What got me thinking about this was that yesterday I had to get my clutch replaced.  While I was driving through Grants Pass, Oregon I noticed some pretty significant slippage in my high gears but I figured I’d get it looked at when I got down to the Los Angeles area.  Luckily I made it that far.  Coming into LA was a bit stressful, I couldn’t get any grip going uphill so I’d have bomb down hills in hopes of riding out the momentum on the upside.  Then I got stuck in traffic and I could not keep my truck in gear to save my life.  I had visions of a center lane breakdown running through my head, it was a stressful couple of hours (though it brought me and the truck closer together) but I made it to Loma Linda.

The next day I did some calling around and was able to get in touch with Clint, a mechanic at the Tustin Dodge dealership whose former pastor is my friend Brian’s current pastor.  If you ever need work done in southern California, I highly recommend Clint.  He got me in right away, made sure I got a fair price on the parts, and even brought his labor rate down a bit.  Clint definitely saved me some money, and for that I am extremely grateful, but more than that he gave me a place to turn in a pretty awful situation.  I know nothing about cars or how much repairs should cost and I totally could have got taken on this repair but with Clint I know I can trust his work and he gave me a rate.  On top of that he’s just a really nice guy.

So yesterday was a pretty crappy day.  I threw away a bunch of money and spent most of the day in a service station waiting area watching middle aged men in cloth shorts take naps.  But it was also a really good day.  For the little strokes of good fortune that got me in touch with Clint to work out, well maybe that’s all that it was, good fortune.  But if you believe in a God that not only cares for His creation but is involved in it, miracle may not be overstatement.  Maybe we too will see miracles.

p.s.  Why do people choose to live in southern California?  Honestly, why would anyone choose to surround themselves with so many strip mall?  And how in the world can you stand the traffic?  Either you’re an incredibly relaxed bunch or you do smoke as much weed as the rest of the world thinks you do.  I understand you love the sun but how can it be worth it?  Move to Arizona or something because this is ridiculous.