Miracles

It's not often that we see genuine miracles face to face. Or maybe we just don't recognize them when we do, but this week I witnessed at least 3!

On Tuesday night I was invited by Alpha Canada to do some videoing for an Alpha commercial they are putting together for churches in Canada. A generous donor had given a significant amount of money to do some necessary promotion, so a film crew were hired from Toronto to travel across the country taping testimonies of what Alpha has meant to them. We had gathered 3 young men, at the church, and then there was me.

When I finished my interview, I sat and listened to the 3 guys tell their stories. Wow! What an inspiration to hear! Fatty is an Indian by family and raised in the Sikh culture and religion, but had strayed into the grip of alcoholism and drugs. His boss attends our church and because I was teaching on the 12 steps, asked him to come to church with him and his family. Fatty came, was deeply affected by the services and quickly enrolled in the Alpha program which was just beginning. He told how welcome he'd felt, how he quickly responded to the Gospel, received the Holy Spirit's fulness and has seen miracle change in his life. He's been freed from addictions, his marriage has been renewed and he has an obvious joy that he cannot keep to himself! He now attends an Indian fellowship in Abbotsford.

Cam is only 17. No one in his family has ever attended church or talked about God, but when his friend Jordan invited him to Alpha to sit at a Youth table, he said "yes". A year later with a huge grin on his face, Cam told how he received Jesus, has invited his friends to church, teaches Kids Church, and co-leads a youth Alpha table. I've marked this kid for Bible School; he's a rising Pastor!

I loved listening to Carl. Neither I nor the others who were listening, could hold back the tears as he described his journey from atheism to evangelism. His wife, who had just finished Alpha herself and had become a believer, challenged Carl, "How can you say you're an Atheist when you don't even know what Christians believe?" With that Carl came to Alpha and a few weeks into it, became a deeply committed Christian. I had the privilege of baptising him a few weeks later. A week after his baptism Carl was serving as an usher and I remarked how great it was to see him serving. With that, he joked that in a few weeks he'd be after my job! I loved it.

Thank God for Alpha and our dozens of enthusiastic leaders and workers!