by Pastor Rich Carlson

As I write this, I am flying between Berlin and Amsterdam. As I opened my Bible to the book of Acts, the first phrase I read was, “As Peter traveled about the country…” and here I am in the air after spending a week in Spain, Denmark and Germany, visiting students taking a year out of their academic schedules to work for the Lord overseas. So I thought, “As Rich traveled about the countries…” It’s kind of fun to feel related a bit more closely to the apostles—but let’s get on with talking about Peter.          

While in the town of Lydda, Peter healed the paralytic named Aeneas. As a result, “all those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord” (Acts 9:35). Then Peter went to Joppa, 12 miles to the northwest, where he raised Dorcas from the dead! Word of this spread all over Joppa and “many people believed in the Lord” (Acts 9:42). So we have two great miracles, both resulting in believers being added to God’s family.           

I've been to Joppa, currently called Tel Aviv, and seen the house they say was the home of Simon the tanner, there beside the sea. Peter stayed there (with a beautiful view over the Mediterranean). Tradition has it this way, and, as my custom is while seeing the sites in such a place, I never fully believe those traditions. But at least I figure I am very close to where it happened and may be looking at topographical details that could be the same as Peter saw. (A museum in Berlin, where I was yesterday, includes pieces of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon from the time of Nebuchadnezzar. As I stood looking at it, I realized this might be the gate Daniel and his friends walked through as captives. Whether or not he saw the exact things I saw, he was at least close to this spot. I even touched it so I could say I might have touched the same thing Daniel touched. Then the guard reprimanded me so I quit! But back to Peter in Joppa.)          

In the first miracle, Peter healed a man who had been sick for eight years. In the second, he healed a woman who had just died. In the first miracle, Peter healed a man we know nothing about. In the second miracle, he healed a woman who was “always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36). In the first miracle, Peter merely spoke the words and Aeneas was healed. In the second, he got down on his knees and prayed. In the first miracle, Peter says, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” In the second, he just says, “Get up.” In the first miracle, Aeneas gets up himself. In the second, Peter helps Dorcas up. In the first miracle, “all … turned to the Lord.” In the second, “many people believed in the Lord.”          

So what's the point? Here are my conclusions:   
1.    Miracles can happen in different ways.   
2.    They may take place without a specific methodology.   
3.    They come based on needs at the moment.  
4.    They appear to be about more than just the person affected.   
5.    They often result in souls being converted, and . . .   
6.    I believe they can still happen today.          

You know why I believe this? Here's one reason. It’s an email I received recently from a student:         

“A church member came told me that his father had been in a coma for days. The doctors didn't give his dad much hope to snap out of his vegetative state. He asked me if I could go (with the church elders) and anoint his dad. At the hospital, we went into ICU; we prayed and anointed this man as it says to do in the book of James. I then talked to the family, and was comforting them with some promises from Scripture. Not 15 minutes had gone by when the nurse walked into the waiting room with tears in her eyes. The family probably expected the dreaded news that their dad had passed away, but that was not it. she told us instead that he had snapped out of his coma! Praise God! The father later shared with me that he had heard every passage read and every word spoken in prayer.”

Rich Carlson is campus chaplain at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. "God is Faithful" is adapted from the email devotionals he writes regularly for the Union College family. Rich enjoys filling his life with God, his family, and especially his five grandchildren.