I’ll never forget that day what I heard, the miracle I witnessed, and its effect the Marines in my care.
Paul, make a U-turn, I heard in my mind.
Knowing it was the voice of God, something I’ve learned to listen to over the years, I immediately turned my car around.
I had been driving inside Al Taqaddum Airbase, which is between Ramadi and Fallujah. It was Easter weekend, 2006. My job was to serve as a chaplain to fifteen hundred Marines. Their jobs were dangerous. Many of them searched for improvised explosive devices. The enemy hid them in potholes, dead dogs, and any place they could.
Shortly after turning my car around, I saw a makeshift hospital. A corpsman ordered me to stop my car and explained the situation. Fifteen marines had been hurt by rockets in an attack in Fallujah, but only one was in critical condition.
I quickly parked and went into the tent where the doctors and nurses were doing all they could to save the Marine’s life. Soon his heart monitor flat-lined. A doctor declared him dead.
One of my prayers for my deployment was that none of the Marines in my care would die. However, when someone dies, a chaplain’s duty is to be available. A medic read his dog tag and announced he was Catholic. They called for the Catholic chaplain, who came and began issuing the last rites.
I heard the voice of God speak to me once again, as clearly as he had when I made the U-turn. Pray for resuscitation.
I began to pray, explaining to those around me that God had called me to pray for resuscitation.
“Revive him, Lord. Resuscitate him,” I prayed over and over again.
Others began to pray with me. Ten minutes later, the heart monitor suddenly started beeping. The Marine was alive. The medical personnel began their feverish work on him again. Soon everyone was crying tears of joy. Several began shouting, “This is a miracle.” The medical team stabilized the Marine, and he was flown to a hospital in Germany.
As I drove back, I was awestruck. I praised God for what he had done. Then the significance of the date hit me. It was Good Friday, the day of our Lord’s death. The Lord brought back to life a Marine on Good Friday. He answered my prayer. All of the Marines in my care came home alive.
You are a God of miracles. Thank you for revealing yourself in marvelous ways and may I keep my eyes open to what wonders you have planned for me.
“Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’” (John 11:43–44)