Father's Day and miracles

Today is Father's Day.
I hope you are having a great day ... or had one.
I guess the only connection between Father's Day and miracles I have is a very tenuous one. It was during a Father's Day breakfast at Alamo Christian Church that I began telling Gerald Wilbur about some odd "coincidences" which I consider too strange to be such. I have to believe they involve God's higher power.
You decide.
I don't even know how the subject came up this morning. But I found myself telling him, and anyone else at the table who would listen, about two experiences.
The first happened at our house.
I was in the ministry (full-time - only "professional" priority -- however you want to state it) from 1976-1994.
Then I became a reporter for a Crawfordsville, Ind., radio station (WCVL-WIMC); later joining the staff of the Journal Review and six years ago, becoming the editor of The Brazil Times, Brazil, Ind.
Linda and I were talking one day and I mentioned I would like a new Thomspons Chain Reference Bible.
"I thought you had one," she said.
I had been given one for Christmas in 1969. I bought one (this time a New International Version) about 20 years ago.
The first one is a King James Version -- not all that reliable for Bible study, though many fundamentalist Christians would disagree.
The NIV Bible I used daily until the binding was falling apart and the plastic cover that came on it was worn out.
I thought sure I threw it away. Linda hadn't seen it in years, either.
"I'm going to the Christian book store in Terre Haute tommorrow," she said. "I'll see how much they are."
The verdict: expensive. About $100.
So, I thought about asking for one for Christimas or my birthday.
A day or so later, I was sitting in our recliner, thinking about the subject when I happened to look at the end table across the room, next to my wife's chosen chair.
Laying on it was my old NIV Thompson Chain Reference Bible.
Naturlaly, I thought Linda had found it.
When she got home from work I learned differently.
"I don't know where it came from," she said.
I bought a new cover for $8 and am using it today.
* * *
A few weeks ago, our daughter, Amanda, was involved in a brutal car wreck.
She was driving our Mercury Sable to Ohio for her summer graduate work.
A terrific rain storm hit central Indiana. She lost control on I-65, spun out and hit a guard rail, tearing the rear half of the car off and damaging the guard rail as well.
"Dad, I'm all right," she said, when she called.
I knew immediately by those words she had been in a wreck.
The miracle came because Amanda is legally blind without her glasses.
While in Florida, she caught an eye infection and couldn't wear her contact lenses, so she was wearing her glasses the day of the wreck.
After spinning around at least three times and hitting the guard rail with tremendous force, her glasses flew from her face.
But when she put her hadn down, next to her, they were neatly folded, ready for her to wear.
I have to believe there was an angel riding with her that day -- one that couldn't be seen.
She has God's work to do here before He calls her home. And, we're delighted to have our little girl (who will turn 25 this fall).
Miracle or coincidence -- you decide.