Probably the phrase most people associate with my Dad is, “You are a miracle.” I remember when he started to change his perspective from seeing big crowds of people with irritation to wonder and gratitude. He would look with joy at each person, imagining and rejoicing this person was created and known by God. Dad believed God was in the intimacy of love and connection. Yes, Dad believed God could be found in the wonder and massive expanse of multitudinous universes, but the singularity and miracle of the human soul thrilled Dad beyond description. How many were waiting for a Messiah to bring retribution to Rome and raise Israel to a place of power? 

Instead, through His son Jesus, God became human and vulnerable, not as a king to reign over the world but as a God to redeem people’s souls for intimate friendship and ultimate love. The individual and personal connection with the Divine uniquely possible through the conduit of the human soul blew Dad’s mind. This was to him, the miracle of each person. Each person was God’s miracle. I don’t know how often I would be startled by Dad walking into a place with his booming voice greeting a stranger with great love and enthusiasm, “You are a miracle!” I always expected the person to respond with a look that said, “This guy is crazy!” I never saw that happen. Perhaps Dad just had the intuition to select those who would respond well. I don’t know. 

Every time I expected to witness pushback, each person he greeted as a miracle would respond with tremendous gratitude and surprise. “Thank you,” they would earnestly say. Then Dad would start his characteristic loving conversation, and soon he would have a new friend. This connection was a miracle to me. This miracle of strangers meeting strangers in an utterly uncommon way and connecting at the soul level. 

“God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” – 1 John 4: 16

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