Miracles

Miracles

August 5, 2024

Grandpa Bruce Randall

 

Hello again to all my Grandchildren,

This past week I was having a discussion with one of my grandchildren and I asked them what they thought I should write about this time. They thought for a minute and then said, "miracles". So, here it goes.

Grandpa Randall strongly believes in miracles. And I believe I do mostly because of my strong belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have not normally planned on speaking much about my belief in God in my viewpoints. You all know I am committed to my faith. Because I was asked to share my viewpoints on miracles, I cannot easily separate my religious views from my general thoughts and viewpoints. What I will not be addressing today are any other thoughts on why things happen. You can aske me that separately later, at least while I am still around :).

With that said, let me now provide some characteristics of miracles from Grandpa's point of view, and then share a few examples of what I call miracles. You can decide for yourself if you believe in miracles. 

Miracle characteristic traits from Grandpa's view:

• Miracles seem to be coincidental.
• Miracles are a positive action that is not explained by science or nature.
• Miracles are often overlooked and not acknowledged as miracles because they can be explained in a rational, reasonable way. (or at least we try to do it that way.)
• Miracles create a feeling of gratefulness, happiness, relief, and peace.
• Miracles don't have to be big. They are often small, but we don't recognize them as a miracle.
• Miracles come from God. (that is what Grandpa believes anyway)

Examples of miracles in our family's lives:

Grandpa's Left Eye Miracle

In January 2018, Grandpa Randall (I) had trouble with his left eye. It started getting very red on a Saturday and it was hard to see. I went to one eye doctor on Monday who then sent me to another doctor to be seen on Thursday. No one could easily figure out what it was. The second eye doctor sent me to the OHSU Casey Eye Institute, but I could not be seen for another 4 weeks. I got a Priesthood blessing and prayed a lot. Four weeks later, I could see just a little better in his left eye, but still didn't know what was going on. I went to the OHSU eye doctor appointment. They took a sample of vitreous (stuck a needle in my eye and sucked out some of it) out of Grandpa's eye and told me to come back in a few days after they got the results. When I went to my appointment the first thing the doctor said to me was, "Mr. Randall, are you a man of faith?". I said, "yes". He then said, "your eye is healing itself and that is a miracle. People normally go blind with the disease you have in your eye after about 1 week of having it. There is not a case to be found in the United States, or frankly, in the world, that we can find, that shows that an eye with your disease has ever healed itself without being treated. We will start treating it today, but this is about 6 weeks after the original disease started."

I agree with the doctor, I believe it was a miracle. Not only did I not go blind in that eye, but the eye was already healing itself.

I am including two pictures. The first is a picture is a funny picture of me and my eye that I took while waiting at the OHSU eye clinic that I sent over to Aunt Julie so we both could have a good laugh. The second picture is my eye before being treated.

 

Out of Money

I can tell you of many stories where Grammy and I were out of money to live, but somehow we made it through the time period from some miraculous event. I will only share one with you. You can ask me some other time if you really want to know.

Married and in College

Grandpa had a full time job - 40 hours a week while I was going to college full time at ISU (Idaho State University). Grammy was also working full-time at Gem State Paper Co. Money was still tight as we had to pay for college and books along with having a new baby on the way (Lacey). I wasn't sure what we were going to do so I continued to work and pray and I hoped it would be OK.

That week, as I left one of the school buildings from a side door I was looking down and I saw a $20.00 bill. Of course I was excited, and of course I thought where there is one bill, could there be another? Sure enough I found another $20.00 bill another few feet away. I kept looking and I found about $120.00 worth of bills. Then I started to think, someone as poor as me, or poorer, could have lost these. So, I went to the college's lost and found and stated that I had found some money. I didn't tell them how much, I just said if someone comes looking for money, have them call me and I will ask them how much they lost. If it is pretty close, I will give it to them. The policy for the school was if no one claimed it, it belonged to the finder, and that it was eventually ours. By the way, $ 120.00 is a lot of money today, but was a whole lot more valuable in 1982.

Here is a picture of Grandpa with little Lacey in our house in Pocatello, Idaho. 

 Two More Miracles

The Cannery

Grandpa was a reluctant "Retort Operator" at the St. Paul Oregon Church Cannery. One time while serving there with Grammy, Grammy was pregnant with Matt. We were canning pears. She was on the production line cutting out bad spots on the pears. Grammy was too proud to show she wasn't strong enough to tough it out with the older women she was working with. She was saying a prayer and asking Heavenly Father to help her so that she wouldn't fall on the wet, sticky floor. She kept leaning over trying not to faint. She finally stood up and was planning on saying, "I am sorry, but I think I am going to faint", but just as she was about to say that, her vision started to go and just as she fainted I was behind her and caught her. The next thing she knew, she was in the lunch area waking up.

There is a lot of steam that comes from the retort machine so I couldn't see Grammy, but I felt like something was wrong. So, I shut down the production line area where I was operating the steamer machine and went over to her and caught her just as she was about to faint. That is a miracle to me.

Here is a picture of Grammy, Lacey, Jenny and other family members with Matty. Also included below is my retort operator certificate.

The Big Sale

I was working with a multi-partner group to sell a computer system and consulting services with IBM to the State of Virginia. I had flown over to Virginia right before Nick was to be born. Nick was due around the 1st of April and Laurie was always went past her due date, so we both thought I could take the trip and be back on March 26th and it would be fine. Because the presentation to the State of Virginia was on March 25th, I had told my company I needed to have a back up person with me so I brought one other person.

After being there for two days preparing, I felt impressed that I needed to go home. IBM already knew this could happen and they went with the person I had brought with me.

I immediately went to the airport and made it home around midnight on March 24th. I woke up early the next morning and as I was preparing to go to work, Grammy felt contractions. Nick was born that day and I was there to be with her and baby Nicholas. That was a miracle. By the way, we lost the contract. Oh, well.

Here is a picture of Nick as a young boy.

Yes, I do believe in miracles! I know that if you look hard enough, and remember well enough, you will see miracles happen in your lives also. I am grateful for the miracles in my life. With all my love, Grandpa Randall