Miracle Number One- a Little Latin

Saying for the day: Our God is a God of surprises.

We go again to the box of artifacts and find a liturgical cross a Christmas gift from one of my children.

It reminds me of a time when God surprised us in an unexpected way, a miracle if you will.

I had a bad ear infection and we drove 90 miles to a specialist with me in such pain that I banged my head on the dashboard trying to get some relief. The doctor gave me an antibiotic and sent me home ( He should have rushed me into surgery). The pain went down somewhat as we drove home.

As I was getting ready for bed I suddenly had a terrific seizure . My heart stopped. My son gave me CPR and it started again. An ambulance was called and they rushed me to the hospital. My good friend Father Gondeck came an anointed me for healing. It did not look good for me.( A Catholic Priest anointing a Lutheran pastor is a miracle in itself.)

My wife was in the waiting room when the doctor came to see her. He asked if I knew Latin.( I didn’t. I never took a course in Latin in my life) He told Betty I was saying something in Latin about God being in control. This was the miracle. I spoke in tongues. Not in some heavenly angelic language. Not in some far off language that nobody knew. But In Latin and there was a doctor there to recognize it.

Betty took this as a sign from God that everything would be okay. She knew that for me to speak in tongues took the direct intervention of God. She was charismatic and spoke in tongues but I made her promise not to tell anybody because Lutherans didn’t do that. She knew that the only way I was going to speak in tongues was to be unconscious at the time. So she was sure that I was in good hands.

They rushed me to Green bay where they discovered that the infection had spread into the brain causing it to swell. The doctor said if the brain didn’t go down on its own he would have to operate. In the meantime the ear specialists decided that the only way to solve the problem was to remove the cause. So on Christmas Eve I went into surgery and had the ear cleaned out and packed with antibiotics.

Healing after that was very rapid. I could feel the hand of God in all of it. The brain went back to normal with no surgery. Shortly I was able to go home.

The entire event strengthened the families faith. But it also said to me that God has a sense of humor. He could have healed me without the Latin. I would still have seen his hand in the process.

But I had scolded God ( are you allowed to do that) for causing my wife to speak in tongues. It caused me problems (now I had a fanatic wife). I told God and Betty it was a gift I did not want and saw no need for. So God in effect said John if I want you to speak in tongues you will. He made sure it was a real language and one I didn’t know. He had some one there who did know. It all came together in a marvelous manner.

One could say that the entire event was a miracle but the center, the mark that it was God’s doing was the speaking in Latin. I have never spoken in tongues since ( Lutherans don’t do that). But I am thankful for that moment.

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9700 spins without a prize .It seemed for a minute that Pigeon Falls was returning but then the wind shifted and the fog lifted. So Old Hapless is still here and running out of things to say. If you keep losing and losing that is hardly news. He enters the same contests every day and every day he loses. It is so dull that one has trouble making it seem interesting. poor old Hapless.
Well Uncle Wiggly lovers if Old Hapless doesn't win by mistake and thus lose the incentive to blog we will be back tomorrow with another adventure of " As the world spins."
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If your looking for things to say to telemarketers check out the comments on Gary's blog "View from My Garden".
Its been one of those days. We wanted to work outseide and it rained. We both spent the day coughing. The only highlight was the visit from a couple of men who wanted to talk trains. They were from Eagle River amd he has a G scale layout. I hope to see them again on Thursday. Other than that it was just a dull day. I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA