The Answer to a Prayer, Unprayed.

A story of how God's Grace flows though the lives of others

The Blessed Sacrament at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament - Hanceville, Alabama.

It should come as no surprise that miraculous things would happen at an Adoration Chapel.

It’s a place where Jesus Christ is Truly Present.

And Jesus and miracles?

Well, that’s kind of all of the New Testament.

But miracles can occur in many guises.

And often in unexpected ways

And sometimes, even in answers to prayers, we never prayed.

Here’s a little story.

…

It was late.

You could barely see the road.

Between the torrents of rain and pitch-black skies, the fear of hydroplaning kept my eyes wide and knuckles white around the steering wheel.

Nothing seemed to be going right.

Work was slow, and the genuine possibility of foreclosure and financial ruin was bearing down…and the weather.

My prayer was a simple one.

“Lord, please help me keep the lights on.”

Little did I know, that was precisely what I didn’t need.

…

His name was Charlie. He was probably on the south side of 90 and was so thin that each bone seemed to stand in sharp relief beneath his skin.

He looked a bit like a skeleton.

He ‘lived’ at the church.

A man of profound faith and unrelenting prayer.

I arrived at the Chapel just before 9:00 pm, the rain probably causing some to consider building an ark.

Fatigued, stressed, and soaked to the bone, I pulled on the handle to enter.

And there sat Charlie.

And the 3 seconds that I’ll never forget.

He turned his head towards me, and his face lit into one of the most beautiful, heartfelt smiles I have ever seen. And he said joyfully, “Hello, Jeff!”

It seems like such a normal and innocuous greeting.

One that could be easily overlooked.

But it was filled with such an intensity of love that it stunned me.

It was a revelation.

One moment, I was being crushed by the weight of the universe.

The very next, my heart was filled with peace and joy.

In that moment, I caught a glimpse of God’s Love for us.

His joy in simply seeing us.

And Charlie was the vehicle of this Grace.

Oh, what a difference a moment can make.

The rain continued to fall, and the challenges didn’t disappear.

What I was praying for drove me to the Chapel.

As often the struggles we face do.

But what I was praying for wasn’t what I needed.

It was what I wanted.

But what I needed is what each and every one of us needs.

A deeper relationship with Christ.

However bad things seem.

How little rope we have left.

However painful our suffering is.

If it leads us to Christ…

It’s more precious than gold.

Charlie’s passed on since then.

I pray that he’s right where he longed to be, as he was on that long, dark night.

Gazing into Christ’s eyes and being positively overwhelmed with the Love of all Loves.

I can’t know this.

But I wonder if he knew, or if he knows now, how much of an instrument of Grace he was that night.

I pray he does.

And if he does.

How he was the answer to a prayer,

A prayer, un-prayed.

Thank you, Charlie, my dear friend.

Charlie’s chair.