Lent Devotional: This Really Happened

There are lots of people in this world who don't believe that God exists. Trying to prove God's existence can be a futile endeavor, belief in God takes faith and trust.  For those of us who live our lives through the lens of God's existence and presence in the world it is quite difficult to even begin to think about a God-less world.  

I want to share with you a news story from the 17th of March.  I have always been told that there are no coincidences, only God-incidences.  That sometimes we just catch a glimpse of God's hand at work right in our midst.  You just might call these moments miracles.  I think this is evidence of a miracle:

(This article has been taken from breitbart.com and was written by Robert Wilde)

Timing is everything, and no one believes that more than Konrad Lightner and his wife Jennifer, who happened to be carrying a box spring mattress under a third-story apartment window when a three-year old toddler was about to fall to the pavement below.

"The child climbed out of the window and was actually hanging out on to what appeared to be a telephone line or a cable line. They placed the mattress underneath the child, and at that point the child released and fell to the ground," said Burbank Police Lt. John Dilibert. Konrad stood by the mattress and actually caught the child, breaking the fall and then gently gliding onto the mattress, saving the child. The Lightners, who were moving from their Burbank apartment on Saturday, were moving their bed at the time of the incident.

What’s more, earlier in the day the couple had spent 30 minutes trapped in an elevator, which set their day back by just the right amount of time allowing for them and the young boy to perfectly synchronize their introduction and determine the boy’s fate. The child was taken to a local hospital for evaluation; fortunately, he did not suffer any major injuries.

The toddler’s parents were alerted by a neighbor, and they quickly rushed to the scene. Photos from the paramedics at the scene showed the father hugging the child and appearing grateful that the boy was rescued.

“It was very surreal afterwards,” Jennifer Lightner told KABC-TV

“We were just moving the rest of the day and every once in a while we’d look at each other and just be like, ‘That happened. That was real.’” Konrad said, "It feels like I watched a TV show, like it didn't happen to me.”

That happened.  That was real.  Now I know that there are so many moments in our lives when we pray for a miracle, and often the miracle we hope for is not the outcome that takes place.  We are quick to discount the fact that God is still in the miracle business, even when the miracle doesn't happen on our terms.   All I know is that for some reason these folks were carrying a bedspring the exact time this child crawled out of the third-story window.  

Do you believe in miracles?  Have you ever experienced a co-incidence that just may have been God at work in your life?  What is your reaction to this story?  How might God be working a miracle in your life, though it might be different than you hope for?