Unseen Miracles
Two years ago in downtown Denver my friend, Scott Reasoner, and I saw something tiny and insignificant change two lives; something no one else seemed to notice. It was one of those beautiful Denver days. Crystal clear, no humidity, not a cloud in the sky. We decided to walk to an outdoor restaurant rather than take the shuttle bus that runs up and down the Sixteenth Street Mall.
The Blake Street Baseball Club was an appropriate name for this out door restaurant, the tables set on a grass "infield." Colorful pennants and flags hung limply overhead. There wasn't a hint of a breeze. Heat radiated up from the tabletop. Nothing moved, except the waiters, of course. And they didn't move very fast, either. After lunch Scott and I started to walk back up the mall.
We noticed a mother and her young daughter walking out of a card shop toward the mall street. She was holding her daughter by the hand while reading a greeting card. The card must have been for a very special person. The young mother was so engrossed in the card that she did not notice the mall shuttle bus which was moving toward her at a good clip. Scott and I were immediately aware that she was one step away from disaster. Scott started to yell. He hadn't even gotten a word out when suddenly, an impossible breeze blew the card out of her hand and over her shoulder. She reflexively spun around and grabbed at the card, nearly knocking her daughter over. By the time she picked up the card from the ground and turned back around to cross the street, the shuttle bus had whizzed by her. Her attention having been so fixed on retrieving the card, she never even knew what almost happened.
To this day two things continue to perplex me about this event. Where did that one spurt of wind come from to blow the card out of that young mother's hand? There had not been a whisper of wind at lunch or during our long walk back up the mall. Secondly, if Scott had been able to get his words out, the young mother might have looked up at us as they continued to walk into the bus. It was the wind that made her turn back to the card - in the one direction that saved her life and that of her daughter. The passing bus did not create the wind. On the contrary, the wind came from the opposite direction. I have no doubt it was a breathfrom God protecting them both.
But the awesomeness of this miracle is that she never knew. As we continued our walk back to work, I wondered how God often acts in our lives without our being aware. The difference between life and death can very well be a little thing. Miracles often blow unseen through our lives.