From time to time, I'm going to try and post items that may not have much to do with the overall theme of this site...or then again, they may everything to do with it.
From Tuscola County in Michigan comes this story of a baby miraculously surviving a major storm while trapped beneath the rubble of his home.
When a major storm approached their home, Joe Soyring and Nichole Opperman went to gather their family and flee their home to safety.
Before they could get their kids out, the couple fell into the basement of the house.
"Next thing you know, the house started shaking. Both of us thought it was an earthquake. And the next thing you know, I got sucked down into the basement...and I watched the tornado go that way," Soyring recalled.
When the storm passed and they were able to crawl free from the wreckage, Soyring and Opperman found three-year-old Makayla, but couldn't find their 15-month-old son, Blake, who had been sleeping in a crib when the storm hit.
Neither they or their neighbors,who came to help could find the baby. Jeff Hawks came running when he heard the screams for help.
"We're looking all over the baby. I mean, we scoured the whole three acres over here, the whole three acres on my side, and we couldn't find the baby.
"All of a sudden, I heard this little whimper and I told everybody to be quiet so we could hear it. And the baby was under this huge pile of debris, probably about this deep (motioning about five feet high) -- floor rafters, you know, everything."
They pulled off the wreckage to find Blake very much alive. "The crib had flipped over, and the mattress was the only thing that saved the baby. The mattress was on top of the baby, but I mean there was thousands of pounds of stuff wrapped over this baby. I don't know how he made it."
The crib and Blake were thrown about 25 feet from the house. He suffered minor cuts and bruises, but is otherwise fine.
"We're lucky to be alive," said Joe Soyring. "Look at it. That's where the house sat."
One of G-d's small miracles.
Thank God you were saved. Why miracles happen and to whom and when, we can not know, as we are not God. But, we know they happen.
ReplyDeleteThirty very stunning incidents
I have experienced in my life in different countries, I have related in my book SMALL MIRACLES
by Askin Ozcan - ISBN 1598001000
http://www.outskirtspress.com/smallmiracles
Available at all major internet bookshops.
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Re Jihad: Unfortunately this word
is misunderstood by those who do not speak sufficient Arabic and have not studied the Koran deeply.
Just the same as many concepts have been misunderstood by the Christians who made the crusades or
burned a fine astronomer like Kepler who said the earth was round and was revolving around the sun; or were about to burn Galileo
for the same reason.
Jihad does not necessarily mean
it can be done by "killing", it can be done by education. Islam is a religion of peace like Christianity or Judaism. But, come to tell it to the ignorant ones.
Having read the Bible and the Koran, I find no difference in their messages of love, peace, brotherhood, justice, sharing with others what God has given to one, respect for truth, for one another,
self-control, humility, for beauty and knowledge and for the prophets of God. They are the books of the religions of the same God- as God is one.
May God be with you always.
FF,
ReplyDeleteIMO, taking a break from the ugliness all around us (the political front, for one) is refreshing. I have to take a break, too, from time to time.
Hi Always ,
ReplyDeleteThanks as always for dropping by.
There is a lot of good is this world as well as ugliness, and there are things worth fighting for. That's what keeps me going when a lot of other bloggers have packed it in.
I've always had a very deep and personal belief in G-d, and my faith is only strengthened when
G-d shows up in a time of need when one would least expect it.
Anonymous, Ummm,thanks for letting everyone know about your book. We'll call this one a freebie, but I suggest you contact me regarding advertising in the future.
As for your explanation of jihad, I'm quite aware that there are many different types. My pal Irshad Manji promotes intijihad, the struggle against evil within.
However, as you know if you've actually read the Qu'ran and the Hadiths, jihad's common meaning in Islam is Holy War against the Kuffar, the non-believer, and most Muslim clerics make no bones about it, even today.
The last thing Mohammed said to his followers before he died in 632 CE was that they should fight the unbelievers until they either died, became Muslims or paid jirzya (monetary tribute) and `felt themselves subdued.'
Does this bit sound familiar? "In the shade of swords shall ye find paradise".
Until Islam at large renounces that sentiment, and actually acts against those who promote it, muslims are going to be lumped together with the jihadists and no serious personis going to consider Islam a religion of peace in the least.
Maybe this quote from New Testament will help "By their fruits ye shall know them."
I urge you to have the courage to challenge your fellow Muslims to abandon the poison fruit of jihad and plant something better.
ff
Response from the Anonymous to the freedom fighter:
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to reply to me. Koran (other books too) must be taken in their entirety. If only parts of it are
referred to, without referring to the whole, misunderstandings do occur. Koran states also, that one should react against the non-believers ONLY if the non-believers
attack the believers (and by believers all believers are understood, not only those who believe in the Koran) and when the non-believers give up attacking the believers, the believers should
also give up reacting to them.
The meaning of the word "Muslim"
is the one who believes in peace...
In the Koran, Jesus, in the last dinner, says "Thank God we are Muslims..." meaning "we are the believers in peace..."
All religions have been unfortunately greatly misunderstood. I have met few imams who correctly understood the Koran. Many say "Islam is the best religion" whereas the Koran says "all religions of God, on earth, have equal value". Etc.
Priests and rabii as well, are found in varying formations...
I have met orthodox priests who
recite their Bible and state
that one should not pray to Jesus, but to the Father (The God) as Jesus has himself said so and priests who look for the same paragraph in their Bible but can not even find it.
Religious education is not an easy one. The best, I find, is to read
all the books of God and respect
all the God's religions. Koran says, " your job as a Muslim is to protect the other books we have sent before the Koran..." Can it be clearer?
And "for those who hold all the prophets of God equally, we have a special present in the other world"- yet the same Koran also admits that some of the prophets God sent were more important than the other prophets... The books are great, but must be taken as a whole.
In my book (I won't mention the name again not to be accused for advertising) there is a whole chapter about bringing closer the
different religions of God as both the Bible in the Genesis, says "Humanity will find holiness
in the Nation of Abraham" and the Koran says:"Talk to the Christians and the Jews and try to build a nation of Abraham altogether, as God is one. If they accept, they would be doing the best and the most beautiful."
Thank you for your site and giving me the chance of saying what I know.
Bible: "No one will come to me in darkness."
Mohammed's Hadith:"Go even to China
if you will find the science there."
Both Bible and the Koran: "Those who believe in God from their hearts, are brethern."
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Note: Koran is one, but not all the Hadith of Mohammed are his real words. Some are attributed to him, yet are not parallel to Koran.
Turks are now making an in-depth study to clean out those Hadith which do not belong to Mohammed.
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May God give peace to our world!
And may God be with you always!
Amen.
Askin Ozcan
Author