By Student Bob Bonvallet
Celebrating Life Ministries teaches the importance of trust in God, surrendering to God’s will, being open to receiving miracles, and gratitude in all circumstances. Our spiritual guides will get us through anything that happens in the future. Some miracles can be dramatic and life-altering, and I described one of these in my previous blog last December, but I have become increasingly aware of smaller miracles that can happen to each of us every day. Here are a few “daily miracles” which happened to me recently.
✔️ On Friday evening, August 26, Kathy and I boarded a flight from Chicago to Providence, R.I., to attend Virginia Chapin-Sheff’s memorial service. It was particularly important that Kathy attend the service in person because she was scheduled to provide live music. Little did we suspect what was in store. First, boarding was delayed one and a half hours due to a storm in Providence. After we finally boarded it was announced that the flight would be further delayed in order to de-ice the wings, which was very strange since the outside temperature was in the high 70’s! For about two hours we sat on the plane awaiting the arrival of the de-icing truck, which had been placed into storage since it is not normally used in the summer. Then, they had to find a technician who knew how to use the de-icing equipment. Finally, we could take off.
We arrived in Providence after 1 A.M. We were the last flight to land that night, and I had concerns that we would be able to obtain our rental car at that late hour. To our pleasant surprise, two rental car attendants chose to stay on duty well past their normal quitting time, just to accommodate the passengers on our flight!
We were the last in line, and I optimistically asked for a Toyota Corolla, which we had pre-ordered, only to be told that the only vehicles still available for rental at that time were pickup trucks. I was hoping to avoid driving a pickup truck for the weekend, so I asked if maybe he could borrow a car from another rental car company. He said he would see what he could do.
Five minutes later he returned with a Corolla! He had borrowed it from the car service area because it needed an oil change, but he said he could let us have it for the weekend. In the meantime, the other rental service agent still on duty asked where we were going and when we mentioned Saunderstown, she said, “I live in Saunderstown!” and she gave us driving directions much simpler and faster than the ones from our phone GPS.
We boarded the plane two hours behind schedule, then once on the plane we were notified by the pilot that the Chicago airports had just been closed due to the weather. Oh, no! The pilot held out hope that our airport would reopen and that we would get through. More than two very long hours later, the Chicago airport did in fact reopen and we took off, somehow flew around the storm, and arrived Monday evening almost five hours late, but in plenty of time for me to get to school the next morning. And our flight was the last flight from Providence to Chicago that day that was not cancelled!
And it was all well worth it. The memorial service for Virginia was wonderful and I’m so glad I was able to attend in person. And Kathy provided such beautiful live music. I am grateful for the series of miracles that made it possible for us to attend.
✔️ The week after our return from Providence, the young daughter of one of my fellow teachers was recently rushed to the Emergency Room and spent several days in the hospital. All of us prayed, each in our own way, for her recovery. She has now returned home where she has recovered, and her parents are very relieved. A miracle? I would say yes.
I don’t mean to suggest that we have never faced a major repair issue with our home in all the years we have lived there. We have had two different major flooding episodes, both several years ago. One was due to a faulty back-up sump pump and the other was caused by a bursting pipe. But in both cases, we were guided to find the right repair people and the house was soon restored to its normal condition. In both cases I felt we were being watched over and taken care of by a higher power.
✔️ I try not to overlook what I believe is the most important daily miracle of all – another twenty-four hours of life, the ability to do things, to love and serve others, and to be grateful to God.