October 7, 2021

Yesterday I received an unexpected package from my sister, Anita. I was completely surprised when I opened it and found a red leather-bound bible given to me on December 25, 1962 by my grandmother, Ma-mama. A red leather-bound bible with my name engraved in gold: Virginia Ann Pope. I had not seen this treasure in probably 45 or more years.

This morning before leaving for work, I was sorting and putting Ed's medication in the plastic pill holder. The bible was sitting there where I left it last night. As you know, most bibles come with a thin ribbon attached as a bookmark. Glancing over at the bible, I noticed the bookmark ribbon sticking out at the bottom, and my curiosity overcame me. Even knowing I would be late for work, I decided to see where the bookmark had been sitting for these many decades. As if God had waited all these years to send me just the right message at just the right time, I opened the bible at the page where the bookmark was found. For years, the narrow ribbon had been resting on this passage:

Mark 5:21-43

21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

36 Overhearing[a] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

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Can we not agree that the miracles of Jesus continue today, and are only a glimpse away, a whisper beyond the noise of this world? We only have to be open to receiving them. Admittedly, I look further, listen more intently and desire more earnestly for those miracles since we began this cancer journey. But, despite the yearning for the miracle I seek, I am aware that His love for us is, and always will be miracle enough for this life and the life hereafter.

The red, leather-bound bible of my childhood means more to me today than it ever did then. Maybe it's because I have learned to seek God's message between its pages with more intent, and with a deeper faith.