Week 34—Thursday Acts 9:13-19
Acts 9:13-19
“I WHO BEGAN AS A MIRACLE
HAVE LOST FAITH IN MIRACLES”
This story illustrates the Word of flesh become power. Bishop Chandu Ray, Anglican bishop in Pakistan, was a Hindu teacher in Bishop Cotton School, Simla, when Rev. George Sinker, later a bishop, was principal. Sinker’s eyes became dangerously bad and an operation was to be performed the next day. Sinker said to Chandu Ray, “If I lose my eyesight, will you promise to read the Bible to me every day?” He said he would. “Then begin now,” said Sinker. He read, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.” Chandu Ray said, “If your Christ is real why can’t we ask him to heal you? And if he is real, I will follow him.” They prayed and wept all night.
The next morning the British doctor examined him. He was puzzled and sent for one instrument and then another. The doctor said, “I cannot understand this. What happened last night. Did you weep?” He was told that they did. “Well, the pressure is gone, and I’ve decided not to operate.” The eyes got well. Chandu Ray said, “He saw, and I saw too! I was converted through it.” He went to a theological college in Calcutta, but his faith was nearly wrecked. He came back and began preaching question marks. A New Zealand missionary said to him, “Chandu Ray, what is the matter? You have lost something.” It made him angry. Then he broke down and told her all, “I, who began as a miracle, have lost faith in miracles.” She gave him a book, The Christ of the Scriptures. He found Jesus again and later became a bishop. One day he felt impelled to go to a certain man to get him to translate the Bible into Gurmukhi. But the man was dirty, unkempt, and a drug addict. But the Voice persisted: “Go to him.” He did three times. The man said, “Why do you come? You don’t love me.” He broke down and told what was in his heart. “But how can I ask you if you’re a drug addict?” The man said, “Come back tomorrow. You pray and I’ll pray.” The man was changed. He never touched drugs again. And he did a magnificent job of translation, and the two Sikhs who helped him translate were converted.
O Father, as your servant Chandu Ray saw a miracle before his eyes and became a miracle, help me, who has seen the miracle of Jesus and lesser miracles, to become a miracle. May my life today be a miracle of grace. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I will not believe in miracles; I’ll be one.