Questioning the gas miracles...

April 25, 2010

So I posted the “Gas Miracle” story to the on-line writers group, in response to the “gas” challenge… and got an interesting response:

“I read it with interest Norma. Once we get more people into these, you will see what a difference it makes to everyone's writing. I'll be sending my next assignment on a different post. I'm cutting it off before its finished, I think it may take on a life of its own... :)

So, was someone sneaking gas into the tank??”

And I thought about that question… And responded in turn…
Well… locking gas cap, one key, which was always in my pocket … and I didn’t tell anyone about the “gas problem” until it was all over … and with a family of 8 people (me being THE driver) living in a trailer from which the car could be seen from all windows, someone would have noticed if the car suddenly disappeared…
I know. I asked that question myself. And a lot of other questions. But none of them raised possible answers.
I’m a pretty down-to-earth, pragmatic, take-care-of-things-myself, find-practical-solutions kind of person myself.
And yet – or maybe because of – that, I’ve had a few other similar “inexplicable” experiences like this through the years.
God using spectacular means to get my attention? Perhaps.
Perhaps “miracles” happen regularly, and we just don’t notice them, because we’re too busy, or more likely, because we don’t want to. Noticing such things raises uncomfortable questions, don’t you think?
Yesterday I was watching a Nat Geo program on TV about the findings of the Hubble Telescope. Amazing. Spectacular. Pretty unbelievable, really. Did you know those scientists, looking for answers that would fill in the gaps in their theories (and help prove them) found themselves having to, in some cases, develop new ones. Remember, in school, we were taught that the universe’s expansion is slowing down, and will likely some day stop, and maybe even start retracting? But now – it seems that it is actually speeding up its expansion – and some day, that will lead to the universe “ripping” and destroying itself. And did you know that in the “dark” parts of the sky there are hundreds of billions of galaxies? And that not only is there a lot of “dark matter” that exerts huge gravitational pull … but that 2/3 or so of the universe is made up of “dark energy” that actually holds the universe together? And so on… and on… and on… And the photos themselves, of stars and planets and galaxies, and black holes … are just amazing, unbelievable themselves…
And the scientists were rattling on about the “evolution of the universe” … funny, they used the phrase, “what power?” to ask about what could be holding it together… well, dark energy, then… but still, that question of “power” makes you wonder… And the thing is, thoughtful people have been wondering ever since our long-past ancestors looked up into the skies, and around them on the earth, and under the waters … and it just seems like every time we think we have a reasonable answer, something comes along that doesn’t fit the old “facts” …
And then when we look inside at ourselves? Physically, of course, that’s a wonder in itself. But emotionally, mentally… spiritually?
Do you ever feel (as I felt when I watched that program) that we live in a time of so much “information” that we are glutted? I will always remember as a child watching an amazing display of aurora borealis over Okanagan Lake in the dark night stretch of road between Summerland and Peachland. I experienced a miracle. Then I watched a TV program with photographs of the universe … and while it was awesome, it seemed to me much more as just some very interesting information. Too bad.
But every once in a while, that “miracle?” question really does strike me again. Of course the overwhelming wonder every time I hold a tiny new born child. Or experience love and friendship. But then there are those other things, those inexplicable things that are… well… miracles?
You can check out some of those experiences at Miracle Stories
(And yes. To me, the greatest miracle. Knowing God. And that makes every moment a miracle.)