Twenty
years ago my life was in disarray. My marriage was in trouble; no communication and slowly
but surely we were drifting apart. Church was a drag, after 45 minutes on Sunday I was
shuffling my feet looking for the door. God was a concept, a giant score keeper in the
sky. The Bible was a dead book. I had absolutely no desire to open it. I had reached the
pinnacle of my job profession. I was an experimental test pilot flying the F-14 tomcat
fighter. I had attained every goal I set for myself as a pilot but it did not bring me any
of the fulfillment I had thought it would. I was doing the most exciting flying in the
world, experiencing the thrill of flying on the cutting edge of new frontiers in the sky,
but I was empty.
My job as an experimental test pilot was to fly the
airplane to its highest design speed (1800 mph), turn on the shakers and see if any
airframe flutter vibrations occurred. That was exciting enough, but in addition to that,
the F-14 engines had a stall problem at those speeds and when one engine stalled, the
airplane tried to turn sideways due to the asymmetric thrust from the other engine. So
there we were, at 1800 mph, shaking the airplane, engines stalling and the airplane trying
to go sideways. If I wasn't quick enough to keep the airplane flying straight ahead, all
we would have left is a whole lot of small airplane (and body) pieces going 1800 mph.
Exciting, but no lasting fulfillment. I was empty and hurting.
Then I met Jesus. I was driving to work one sunny
morning in my Volkswagen bug. It was a few months after asking Jesus to be my personal
Lord and Savior and praying for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I was thanking God for the
new found peace I was experiencing in my life since making that prayer, when an
astonishing event took place in my car. I wasn't looking for it, I didn't even know it was
possible, but all of a sudden my car filled up with the presence of God. I was
experiencing this tremendous love of my heavenly Father for me, being poured all over me.
It was like football coaches being doused in Gatorade in victory celebrations, except this
was the love of God flowing all over me! I was weeping uncontrollably in the tremendous
joy and happiness I was feeling. In an instant I knew that God was very real and very
personal and He loved me! Twenty years later I am still experiencing my Father's love for
me, not always in that dramatic a fashion, but every bit as real to me. I am no longer
empty and searching for meaning for my life, I am fulfilled in Jesus!
I have received many miracles from Jesus in the
last 20 years. My marriage that was headed for divorce is now solid and improving through
the grace of God. I love my wife more today than the day I married her. My wife was healed
through prayer, of a cyst on her ovary the size of a small grapefruit. The Bible has come
alive to me and I read it every day. I love church and I try to go to mass every day. I am
involved in a prison ministry and have seen God work many miracles behind bars. I have
seen hardened murderers break down and weep when the love of God enveloped them.
The greatest of the miracles that I know of is
this: I love a person whom I have never laid eyes on, a person whom I have never touched,
and a person whom I have never heard speak. None of these things have happened to me, in a
human way. But I still love Him with all my heart, mind, soul and strength! I love Jesus
more than my wife, children, parents or any other human being whom I have seen, heard and
touched. This is only possible because He first loved me! What a miracle!!!
Joe Burke
President
Paraclete Enterprises
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