Miracle Moments

A young man died this weekend in a skiing accident in Colorado. He was a gifted, good kid who had worked hard to make something of himself. Jack dreamed of flying airplanes and serving his country and he was on his way to achieving those goals as a student at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He was one of those rare young men who had made the cut, securing a coveted spot in the prestigious and highly respected military academy. Naturally Jack's parents and younger brother are devastated. They are reeling from their sudden loss and the excruciating pain that feels like acid to the soul. They already know this pain. Just four years ago their newborn baby died suddenly of cardiac arrest right before their very eyes. His precious life ended as abruptly as his brother Jack’s. There was no warning, no goodbye, nothing to indicate impending doom. And no one could ever have imagined that this family would find themselves in this place of death so soon. I don’t kn...

“Claim it!” Hedy exclaimed happily! God is good! “I am claiming it and he is always good!” I responded joyfully! Following two weeks of swelling and pain in my right leg and especially the knee, I gratefully accepted the glowing report from an orthopedic surgeon. “You have youthful knees. No arthritis, no bone rubbing bone-everything looks fine,” he said looking a bit perplexed. “Thank you God!” I blurted out As I stared at my x-rays, I was amazed at how normal my bones looked considering the pain I had been in for nearly two weeks. “I thought my dad’s arthritic knees and joint pain had been passed on to me,” I explained to the doctor, “because I remember him wincing about the pain and dreading the steroid shots.” “Nope, both your knees look fine. You have a slight shift in your right knee cap that you have always had so maybe you bumped it and that caused the swelling and fluid that led to the bakers cyst,” he continued. He really had no other explanation for the pai...

"Addiction to opiates is the closest to the soul of any addiction. We treat it with a lot of respect." I sat straight up in my chair, searched my purse for paper and pen and wrote down those striking words during a lecture by Dr. Kenison Roy, a leading addiction physician here in New Orleans. "What do you mean by that?" I asked. "Addiction to opiates is the most important thing in the world to the addict," he replied thoughtfully. "Nothing else matters." I knew he was right, I understood what he was saying, but I had never heard it put so poignantly, “closest to the soul.” I closed my eyes and really tried to absorb the power and the pain in those words. It was pretty unsettling. Our soul is created by God, willed by God, not our parents. Though we are physically made of matter in the image of God, our soul gives us our greatest value, animating our body, so that we are living, breathing human beings with a spiritual nature. Unlik...