THE PRICE OF A MIRACLE
A little girl went to her
bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She
poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times,
even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.
Carefully placing the coins back in
the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the
back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug
Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.
She waited patiently for the
pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment. Tess
twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing.
She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster! No
good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass
counter. That did it!
"And what do you
want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice.
"I'm talking to my
brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages,"
"Well, I want to talk
to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone.
"He's really, really sick... and I want to buy a
miracle."
"I beg your
pardon?" said the pharmacist.
"His name is Andrew and
he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle
can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?"
"We don't sell miracles
here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said,
softening a little.
"Listen, I have the
money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how
much it costs."
The pharmacist's brother was
a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind
of a miracle does your brother need?"
"I don't know,"
Tess replied with her eyes welling up. "I just know he's really sick and
Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to
use my money".
"How much do you
have?" asked the man from
"Well, what a
coincidence," smiled the man, "A dollar and eleven cents - the exact
price of a miracle for little brothers."
He took her money in one
hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to
where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if
I have the kind of miracle you need."
That well dressed man was
Dr. Carlton Armstrong, surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery.
The operation was completed without charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was
home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of
events that had led them to this place.
"That surgery,"
her Mom whispered, "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?"
Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost...
one dollar and eleven cents ... plus the faith of a little child.
A miracle is not the
suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law...... (A TRUE
STORY)