One day the Lord was walking through the Miracle Division where the angels were "cranking out" (so to speak) miracles. In the mail department (where the actual packaging and wrapping takes place), one of the angels named Spamus was heard complaining. It seems Spamus wanted to be in the delivery department because everyone knew that was "Where the action is." Spamus’ complaining was about having to do such meaningless packaging and wrapping work when Spamus "just knew" there were greater things to be accomplished for God. The Lord heard the complaint and smiled. The Lord smiled because he had a great and wonderful lesson in store for Spamus. Of course, Spamus wouldn’t catch on or "get it" until everything had played out, for the Lord’s ways are often baffling and mysterious even to angels.

A few days later Spamus and the Lord met for a review of the angel’s performance and Spamus’ unhappiness was painfully evident. The Lord proceeded with the review and complimented Spamus on doing such a spectacular job in the packaging and wrapping department.

Now the packaging and wrapping of miracles is not like the packaging and wrapping of packages here on earth. Angelic packaging and wrapping refers to the placing or stringing together of certain times, events, people, life circumstances in the life of a person being guarded. Packaging and wrapping also included the communication of indirect messages, and hints to the person being guarded. Sometimes, in the packaging and wrapping department, an attempt is made to even alter a person’s life in subtle ways to get them into a position to be able to receive a miracle from God. The angels in this division were always doing a first thing that they hoped would start a second thing happening which in turn they hoped would start still a third thing happening. Outcomes were never assured and sometimes it took years for any evidence of a result to appear. So difficult was the stringing together of influences in a person’s life that it is common for a life to be effected only by the influencing of a person two or more generations ahead of the birth of the person who is to be most influenced. For Spamus and his fellow angels, this packaging and wrapping and was no easy job, especially when people are resistant, stubborn, not spiritual, sin-laden, crude, and rude. Add to those difficulties that fact that Satan’s minions are always at war against God and His angelic realms and you can see how extraordinarily difficult this wrapping and packaging work could be. In nearly all cases, the persons who are being guarded have no knowledge of the angelic activity going on in their lives. People seldom realize that strands of love are being placed around them until they reach certain spiritual plateaus.

In this angelic packaging and delivery activity, there was no excitement, no drama, and definitely no sense of accomplishment because the work was tedious, boring, and the angels often saw no immediate fruit from their work. Because the Lord has a policy which forbids direct intervention except in unusual cases, many times the work of packaging and wrapping results in no miracle, no change in the person under guard, and no victory of any kind for the Lord.

The Lord both saw and felt the angel’s frustration. In most instances, even when the Lord indirectly intervenes Himself, there is no recognition by a person that God is at work in his or her life. Although the angels in the wrapping and packaging department often do not realize it, the stringing together of the circumstances of a persons life with God’s bond of love is the most important activity in the Kingdom. The primary objective of this department it to arrange life circumstances so hearts will be touched and a person’s soul will be inspired to receive God’s love, care, and compassion. Above all else, the angels are to try to arrange circumstances in a person’s life that will bring about true humility. According to God’s laws, without a heart ready to give and receive in humility, there can be no true miracle. Without humility, unusual things can and do happen but God does not classify unusual things as a true miracle. For God, a true miracle is not just an unexplainable healing or some other occurrence of the unexplained. For God, a miracle involves the turning of the soul and the life away from darkness. Most of the time, the occurrence of the unexplained is permitted by God in order to reach the heart and soul of the receiver or others in the world who can be turned away from the darkness through the receiver.

The Lord was standing with the angel during the performance review and the Lord made His viewport become visible. The viewport is a device God uses to see a person’s life. The Lord brought the life of Sam McLod into view. Mr. McLod was a tough business executive. His was ruthless, cunning, and was driven by the desire for wealth. Sam had a two-year-old daughter who the Lord hoped, or whose life was destined to be, the next leader in bio-mechanical research and development. The area of bio-mechanical research will some day make the blind see and the lame walk by connecting small computer chips directly to the nervous system. Since the angel had so much experience in packaging and wrapping, the Lord gave Spamus the assignment of Sam McLod.

The Lord smiled as He saw the little girl and her destiny. Spamus did not understand why the Lord just did not work on wrapping and packaging the girl’s life instead wasting time trying to influence the life of the father. The Lord could hear Spamus’ thoughts and said, "I think we need to take care of the dad. If we do not reach the dad, the little girl will never fulfill her destiny."

The assignment was made and for months Spamus arranged or strung together the times, places, people, and circumstances in the life of Sam McLod. However, Mr. McLod was so focused on himself and his life he never picked up the little nuances of the spiritual realms around him. Spamus and the Lord were both frustrated for they had made no progress with the man. Sam showed no signs of being able to give and receive love, caring, kindness, and compassion. The Lord was doubly concerned because the little girl was going to be attacked by the darkness and could possibly die from an infection put on her by Satan. The Lord knew about all the work Spamus had done to bring Mr. McLod into humility and was about ready to directly intervene (which He did not want to do). Then the Lord decided to wait until the little girl got sick.

The Lord is never wrong. He foresaw how the darkness would come after the little girl and He was right. The little girl caught a simple head cold that progressed into pneumonia. With her lungs filling up, the Lord could see Mr. McLod begin to worry about something or someone other than himself and his business deals. The little girl’s condition worsened until the darkness was ready to kill her. At that very moment, when the little girl’s life was about to be taken from her, Mr. McLod, who had never really prayed before, started praying at the bedside of his little girl in the ICU of the hospital. At that moment, the Lord called down to Spamus to deliver the miracle...the miracle that would save the girl’s life. At God’s direction, the angel placed a shield of protection or cover over the little girl as she lay on the bed in the ICU. Her intense fever lasted for hours but the fever finally broke at 6:00 A.M. the next morning. With her father at her bedside, the little girl reached over and touched his hand. Sam McLod would remember that touch the rest of his life for that touch meant the girl was alive when everyone thought she was surely going to die.

Spamus, although not planning on it, delivered the miracle this time by the placing of the protective shield over the girl. There was practically no work in delivering the miracle. It took no effort. There was no resistance from anyone so the miracle delivery was easy. The Lord saw the surprise in Spamus at the ease of placing a cover or shield over the little girl. The Lord said it is always that way. Delivering the miracle is not difficult. It takes no strength, fortitude, patience, understanding, caring, or love. The newest and most inexperienced angel in the Kingdom could do the delivery. It is the packaging and wrapping of a person’s life that makes the miracle possible. Miracles are made possible by the arranging or the stringing together of countless circumstances, chance meetings, insignificant events, and encounters that seemingly have no purpose. The angels that walk the earth as men and women as well as God’s other human servants must remember that the activity provided by them behind the scenes is crucial to success for God. In the world humans live in, it is the piling on of countless influences like hugs, understanding Bible verses, examples of human compassion, and times of sharing and attention that turn boys and girls into adult persons of spirit and faith. Without the daily piling on of the ingredients of faith, there would be no faith. The angels in the wrapping and packaging department must often accept failure for as a person gets older they often become insensitive to the invisible strings or strands of love their guardian places around them.

The little girl fully recovered. McLod went back to his career. However, Sam McLod was a different man. The one prayer he prayed changed him. He spent more time with his wife and little girl. As the family spent more time together, the little girl could mature spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally. With this development, she would have a chance to fulfill her destiny.

In addition, Spamus learned that stringing together the countless times, places, and circumstances in a person’s life was really what produced the miracle for which so many persons pray. Spamus learned that God did not find the activity of delivering miracles so important. What God wants is the praying. God wants every person to look to Him as the source of all goodness, love, and light. What God wants most is that people change, turn away from the darkness, or repent.

Matthew 11:20 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (NIV)