The missing torch bulb....

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A while ago in Church a young teenager wanted to get up and encourage others in the congregation about a miracle which had occurred recently in his life. 
He got up and proceed to tell the congregation how his maglite torch bulb had stopped functioning during the night. The globe had blown. He went to sleep with the torch under his pillow and low and behold when he woke in the morning found another bulb next to his pillow. He immediately replaced the bulb with the blown bulb and the torch was restored. A miracle!
The unfortunate thing about the story is that the maglite he showed everyone has a spare bulb built in. What can you say when everyone is in awe and wonder and definitely encouraged by a young teenager sharing his faith.

I couldn't help thinking how many other stories of 'faith' are out there, which are really about applause and adulation, yet lack credibility and honesty. Maybe miracles should be a private thing and shared only in the most intimate of moments. Then people like myself can't judge.

Miracles?

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On Brian Mclaren's blog he answers a question regarding miracles:

Thanks for your questions. I spent many years in charismatic/Pentecostal circles, and although I saw a lot of prayer, I can't say I saw physical, visible miracles. Through my years in ministry, I prayed for many people with various diseases, but again, my track record for seeing clear, visible physical miracles was not very impressive at all.
When I've seen God at work in powerful and visible ways, it has almost always involved people acting in compassion, people using their skills and gifts (including medical skills and gifts), people become the "hands and feet" of Christ to love and serve others.
I never shut down the possibility of more dramatic miracles occurring, but I do doubt any claim that they are available on demand. (BTW - if you can point me to a bona fide case, with sufficient evidence, of an amputee whose hand was miraculously restored, I'll gladly report it here. Sadly, through the years, many reports I've heard from a distance turn out not to be real when you track them down.)

I'm a probably a bit more optimistic than Mclaren. The strange thing is that I've seen miricles outside of Christianity and the Church than inside. When it occurred in the Church I'd say it was one of those statistically rare one in a couple of million, not an improbability. Working inside palliative care I've seen people taken off our books because they seem to be cured. It was rare but happened once or twice.