Lutheran Church of Australia

where love comes to life

Miracle brings life

28 March 2016

by Roger Ashcroft
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God’s many wonders assured his people of his presence in the Old Testament and Jesus’ life-changing miracles are well-documented in the New Testament. We read, too, of the signs worked through the apostles of the early church. There are testimonies from around the world that miracles still happen in Jesus’ name – but do we really believe that God would choose to exhibit such power among us today? For one Northern Territory family recently he did just that.

I became a teacher because I believed that was what God wanted me to do.

Now, as principal of Yirara College, I believe that God does this job with me and without that, I couldn’t do it. So I trust in God. I think it’s the same for many people – how would you take the stresses without knowing God is on the journey with you?

Last December, almost 16 years after I became a teacher, God worked a miracle in a family
I barely knew which reinforced my decision to serve in this role. It also reinforced my belief in the awesome power of prayer.

It wasn’t long before Christmas that I was told a brother of a student at the college had tried to commit suicide about 300 kilometres west of Alice Springs.

He was found at seven o’clock in the morning and was not breathing, so he was resuscitated and was airlifted to hospital.

That night I was told that he was brain dead and was on a life-support system. I decided to visit the hospital and to offer support to his brother who was a student at the college.

My wife Jann came along, too, which I appreciated. We drove to Alice Springs hospital and, as we started to walk through the carpark, we were stopped by a security guard who asked who we were there to see. I told him and he said there were a lot of people wanting to see the same young man but that I could go through.

I went up to the first level, to the Intensive Care Unit, and walked down the hallway. There was
a large group of people at the end of the hallway and then there were double doors to the right.
I was almost pushed through by hospital staff.

As I was walking down the hallway, which was about 100 metres long, to where the young man’s bed was, I felt uneasy: I didn’t even know him; I didn’t even know the family; I only knew the brother and he would be the only person I’d know there.

When I got down to the end of the hallway I saw the young man lying in bed, quite thin, with plastic around his legs to push oxygen up into his organs. He was clinically brain dead, lying there with no movement, nothing, with his family around him.

Taking in this tragic scene I thought, ‘What can I do? Why am I here?’

I touched everyone and told them I was really sorry. Most just nodded but the father looked
at me and said, ‘So you’re the principal, that’s what you look like’. We shook hands but I was still asking silently, ‘What can I do?’

It seemed the family was almost looking to me for some sort of answer, so I said, ‘The only thing we can do is pray for a miracle’. So I found a little bit of uncovered skin on the young man’s leg and I put my hand on that.

And we prayed for a miracle. Afterwards I said to the family, ‘Every time you wake tonight, make sure you pray for him; make sure you continue to pray for this miracle’.

I didn’t expect to hear any GOOD NEWS … But that same day, the young man started to move his hands and his feet!

We all left the room and I walked down the hallway and back through the double doors, along with this large group of people, who I’m sure were in shock and grief over this young man. I asked them all to join hands. We did that, and prayed for a miracle, and again I said, ‘Every time you wake tonight, make sure you pray’.

I left the hospital with my wife. I didn’t expect to hear any good news. The next day I was told medical staff had met with the family and informed them they would be disconnecting the life-support machine 24 hours later. It was not looking good; there was no brain movement, nothing happening.

But that same day the young man started to move his hands and his feet! And from there on, he started to get better and better.

One weekend recently I was going out of the school’s front gate and the young man’s father was there with a bus. I hadn’t seen him since that night when his son was on the brink of death, so I got out of the car and went over and shook his hand. He said, ‘Hey have a look at this!’ The son who had been so close to death walked around from behind the bus! I shook his hand and I thought, ‘Wow! This is amazing’.

Today he’s up and walking around – 100 per cent, he’s back! What a miracle God has worked!

I tell a lot of people about what happened because it should be an encouragement that yes, God is working with us as we go about things.

Of course you have your daily prayer, but after something like this, if anything big comes across your path, you’ll definitely believe more that there is a chance of a miracle happening.

We’re hoping to get the young man into the school to do some of the senior subjects. None of us is perfect but God gives us second chances. If we can get him into the school, I hope to talk to him about life and the second chances in life. And hopefully we’ll be able to talk to him about what a miracle it was. I’m sure his family believes that it was a miracle.

The need for prayer for this young man, his family and his community, doesn’t stop with his new beginning, however. Sadly, just recently, his best friend took his own life. So the need for prayer for the young man’s community is as urgent as ever.

I’ve shared the story of the young man’s recovery with different people, including people who aren’t Christians. And they’ve said, ‘Yes, that was a miracle’. It’s really good for those people to see that actually God is at work and even though they may be lukewarm believers or don’t believe at all, how could you not believe after something like that?

That’s what’s so good about it. And it’s something you can share because it’s good for people to know that God is in control of everything that’s going on.

Roger Ashcroft is Principal of Yirara College of the Finke River Mission in Alice Springs.

About Yirara College

Yirara College of the Finke River Mission (FRM) is a boarding school for Aboriginal students 12 years and older, from remote communities in the Northern Territory, as well as those from nearby parts of South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland.

It is located seven kilometres south of Alice Springs, the main regional centre of Central Australia, with a population of 25,000 people. Currently there are 167 enrolled students at Yirara Campus and 38 enrolled in its Kintore Campus, with approximately 90 staff.

The college operates under the auspices of FRM, a mission arm of the LCA. FRM has been ministering to and with the Aboriginal people of Central Australia for almost 140 years.

Yirara College was opened in 1973 as a government secondary residential college for Aboriginal students from isolated communities in Central Australia. In 1991 the Northern Territory Government sought expressions of interest from churches to take over Yirara College. With support from Aboriginal people from the feeder communities, FRM began negotiations with the Central Australian Aboriginal parent family client group, the Northern Territory Government and the Federal Government.

Among conditions under which FRM took over the college was the requirement that Aboriginal people be involved in college governance, and that at least half of the members of the Indigenous Steering Committee would be representatives of Aboriginal communities.

In 1993 Yirara College officially became a non-government provider of education and its name was changed to Yirara College of the Finke River Mission to reflect its place in the LCA.

Jesus’ miracles

The four gospels record in detail at least 37 miracles of Jesus, but it is clear this was not the complete list of his signs and wonders. Of course, he also rose from the dead. The closing verse of John says, ‘Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written’ (John 21:25).

  • Jesus changes water into wine (John 2:1-11).
  • Jesus heals an official’s son (John 4:43-54).
  • Jesus drives out an evil spirit (Mark 1:21-27 and Luke 4:31-36).
  • Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15, Mark 1:29-31 and Luke 4:38-39).
  • Jesus heals many sick people in the evening (Matthew 8:16-17, Mark 1:32-34 and Luke 4:40-41).
  • First miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11).
  • Jesus heals a leper (Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45 and Luke 5:12-14).
  • Jesus heals the centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10).
  • Jesus cures the paralysed man (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12 and Luke 5:17-26).
  • Jesus restores a withered hand (Matthew 12:9-14, Mark 3:1-6 and Luke 6:6-11).
  • Jesus raises the widow’s son from the dead in Nain (Luke 7:11-17).
  • Jesus calms the storm (Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25).
  • Jesus casts demons into a herd of pigs (Matthew 8:28-33, Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39).
  • Jesus heals a woman in the crowd (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34 and Luke 8:43-48).
  • Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Matthew 9:18,23-26, Mark 5:21-24, 35-43 and Luke 8:40-42,49-56).
  • Jesus opens the eyes of two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31).
  • Jesus heals a man who could not speak (Matthew 9:32-34).
  • Jesus heals an invalid at Bethesda (John 5:1-9).
  • Jesus feeds at least 5000 people (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:1-15).
  • Jesus walks on the water (Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:16-21).
  • Jesus heals many sick in Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34-36 and Mark 6:53-56).
  • Jesus heals a Gentile woman’s demon-possessed daughter (Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30).
  • Jesus cures a deaf and mute man (Mark 7:31-37).
  • Jesus feeds at least 4000 people (Matthew 15:32-39 and Mark 8:1-10).
  • Jesus opens the eyes of a blind man (Mark 8:22-26).
  • Jesus opens the eyes of a man born blind (John 9:1-12)
  • Jesus cures a boy with a demon (Matthew 17:14-20, Mark 9:14-29 and Luke 9:37-43).
  • Miraculous temple tax in a fish’s mouth (Matthew 17:24-27).
  • Jesus cures a blind and mute demon-possessed man (Matthew 12:22-23 and Luke 11:14-23).
  • Jesus heals a crippled woman (Luke 13:10-17).
  • Jesus cures a man of dropsy (Luke 14:1-6).
  • Jesus cleanses 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19).
  • Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45).
  • Jesus restores sight to Bartimaeus (Matthew 20:29-34, Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 18:35-43).
  • Jesus withers the fig tree (Matthew 21:18-22 and Mark 11:12-14).
  • Jesus heals the servant’s ear (Luke 22:50-51).
  • The second great haul of fishes (John 21:4-11).

Source: Adapted from http://christianity.about.com/

This feature story comes from The Lutheran April 2016. Visit the website to find out more about The Lutheran or to subscribe.

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