Tag Archives: bizarre happenings

Sending Blessings into a Deserted Faith

On March 2nd, 2010, the residents of Lajamanu, Australia must have felt like they dreaming when perch began to fall from the sky.  Located 400 miles south of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory, this remote desert town is several hundred miles from the nearest body of water.  However, on this day, a water spout likely collected these fish, sending them up into the atmosphere.  When the high winds finally died down, hundreds of spangled perch fell back to earth, most of them still alive.  This bizarre occurrence conjures up images of Jesus feeding 5,000 people in John 6:1-15.  Perhaps a similar weather system brought fish to the mountains of Israel after Jesus prayed.

According to Richard Shears, this might not be as far fetched as once thought.  Pliny the Elder wrote about storms that brought frogs and fish to the Middle East during the first century.  In 1794, near Lille, France, French soldiers witnessed toads falling from the sky during a heavy rain storm.  An unique weather front in Lake County, California brought 2 days of sugar crystals as big as quarters 60 years later.  Meanwhile, other reports include meat tasting like venison falling to earth over Kentucky in 1876, a Russia tornado raining coins from the 16th century and the most recent, raining blackbirds and pigeons over the skies of San Luis Opisbo, California during a 2 day storm in 1976.  Although, these events may not be entirely God ordained, it does give people hope that the Lord has the power to bring blessings into a deserted region.

 

The expression “all good things must come to an end on earth” is inaccurate, especially for those individuals who have not experienced or tasted goodness to this point in life.  Thus, misery loves company as the disappointed, failures and unfortunate revel in their negativity, suffocating anyone who wishes for sunny days ahead.  Maybe this is why the apostle Paul adds 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 to middle of his chapter on the resurrection.  If you surround yourself with doubting Thomas’, you will likely desert your beliefs.  Therefore, the best way to turn disbelief into faith is by coming to your senses, flee from sin and acknowledge the signs of a living God.  When this process is complete, the Lord has the power to send blessings into a previously deserted faith.

by Jay Mankus

The Not-So Ultimate Gift

One of my favorite movies of the last decade is The Ultimate Gift based upon Jim Stovall’s best selling book.  Completed in 2006, this movie centers around Jason Stevens, a pampered rich kid who never had to work a day in his life.  When his grandfather, Red Stevens dies, he is left with a series of 12 tasks called gifts.  Thinking riches are attached, Jason slowly begins to develop motivation to complete these assignments.  What Jason doesn’t realize, this wild goose chase ends up transforming his life from a spoiled brat into a responsible, self reliant man.

Unfortunately, I think I am living out this movie without any cameras, riches or progress.  My first assignment is the gift of unemployment which was bestowed upon me last February.  Inspired to complete a movie God placed in my mind, I spent hundreds of hours, often burning the midnight hour to finish a 90 page script.  A few temporary jobs later, rejection letters galore and daily road blocks, I am back where I started, faced with editing my script, redoing my resume and finding a permanent job.  Like the boy that cried wolf, Bill Murray in Groundhog Day and Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, each day I experience is a not so ultimate gift.

The only thought I can grasp is that maybe all the strange circumstances I have encountered will make a great book one day like Bill Murray’s cross country trek in Larger Than Life with an elephant.  Hollywood can’t make up all of my bizarre happenings I have experienced: an undetective defect in my resume, a demon possessed computer, dead cell phones, false prophet encounters, sure thing leads that don’t materialize and following visions from my dreams without any results.  Despite my complaining, its only been 15 months, a far cry from Israel wandering in the wilderness.  If David had to wait for several years to become king of Israel, I guess I can suck it up until my not-so ultimate gift becomes the gift of work.

by Jay Mankus