For me<\/span>,<\/span> Medjugorje was an answer to a very long prayer. <\/span><\/p>\n I did not know it at the time, but Medjugorje<\/span>,<\/span> was the destination I had been searching <\/span>for <\/span>from the moment a<\/span> miracle took place at a<\/span> hospital<\/span>, in Alexandria, Va.<\/span> <\/span>\u2013 a miracle <\/span>that saved my son<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s life<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n My<\/span> son is alive and well, but <\/span>only through the true intervention of a miracle and a desperate prayer to Jesus Christ over twenty years ago<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n My son was born two and one half months premature. He was born the day before our first \u201cLamaze\u201d class.\u00a0\u00a0My son was given his las<\/span>t rite<\/span> the night he was born, b<\/span>ut he fought hard that night and made it through to the next morning. He was not breathing on his own \u2013 oxygen was pumped into his tiny body by machines \u2013 and the incredible staff worked tirelessly around the clock trying to save his life. My son<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s vital signs<\/span> were like a roller coaster \u2013 a few hours of improvement were followed by crashes, manic activity<\/span>,<\/span> and <\/span>tears<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n My father was a well known pediatrician in town and he stopped by the neonatal\u00a0intensive <\/span>care unit every chance he got<\/span> to check on his grandson\u2019s progress. About four days into the fight for my son\u2019s life, my father, doing rounds at the hospital,\u00a0came by\u00a0in the afternoon to lend h<\/span>is support and expertise. As <\/span>we talked quietly<\/span> about the previous<\/span> night<\/span>,<\/span> a swarm of nurses and the head neonatologist surround<\/span>ed my son\u2019s ventilation unit \u2013 <\/span>the little cocoon that was keeping\u00a0him alive.<\/span><\/p>\n My father sensed something was very wrong\u00a0and walked over to the swarm to investigate.\u00a0 I could not bear to watch.\u00a0\u00a0Prior to my son\u2019s birth I was not very religious. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I did not go to church regularly, if at all\u00a0\u2013 I did pull out the bible from time to time and read the Gospels to try and discern what the fuss was all about \u2013 that was about it. But like the saying goes \u2013 \u201cthere are no atheists in foxholes\u201d \u2013 from the moment the doctors told me my son was very sick, I <\/span>found myself in a foxhole, and <\/span>I turned to prayer as my first born\u00a0fought for his life.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u00a0finally looked <\/span>towards the group surrounding my son <\/span>and I noticed my <\/span>father <\/span>locked<\/span> in an intense conversation with the medical team and the<\/span>n I saw him shake his head. He <\/span>stepped away from the group and then walked towards me with tears in his eyes \u2013 the look on his face made my st<\/span>omach collapse. I thought, no, <\/span>it can\u2019t be; not now. My son had fought too hard, but my father\u2019s look said it all \u2013 it was over.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0<\/span>turned away from my father and stared at the walls<\/span>. And then I prayed in a way I\u00a0<\/span>had never prayed in my life.\u00a0\u00a0I prayed directly to Jesus and I asked him, right then, for a miracle \u2013 I asked him to save my son\u2019s life with all my heart<\/span> and <\/span>all that <\/span>I had left in my soul<\/span>. It is at this point of my story where it does not matter what other people think or believe.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I know what happened. I felt what happened.\u00a0 What happened next was tangible and real. At that moment,\u00a0the moment my son ha<\/span>d basically stopped living,<\/span>\u00a0I understood that miracles do occ<\/span>ur, because right then I felt a <\/span>warmth come <\/span>through me and <\/span>over me, then a rus<\/span>h of something powerful and tangible<\/span> entered the room. Th<\/span>e best way for me to describe \u201crush\u201d<\/span> is that it reminded me of the Pentecost- It reminded of the rush of wind that met the Blessed Mother and the apostles in the upstairs room as the Holy Spirit descended upon them.\u00a0\u00a0I had never felt anything like that in my life. One thing for certain is that I knew it was something real.<\/span><\/p>\n As the warmth faded and my attentions returned back to the sad realities, my father walked back towards my son\u2019s ventilation unit.\u00a0\u00a0More activity \u2013 I could sense hope \u2013 I could sense, suddenly, the fight was back on \u2013 oxygen was returning to my son\u2019s brain. His vital signs returned from a place that everybody in that room knew you could not come back from. My son was going to live a little longer.\u00a0And indeed my son did live a little longer. He is now six feet tall and strong as a<\/span>n<\/span> ox.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As I was driving home\u00a0on the night of the\u00a0miracle, I thought about the warmth I felt in the hospital as my son was dying. \u00a0I thought about my prayer and how it was followed by\u00a0the real presence of God and Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n That night I pulled out the Bible and I searched for the words \u201cSeek and you shall find, ask and you\u00a0shall receive.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0I had \u201casked\u201d for something big that afternoon and I received more than any man deserved. And so it was that night I made<\/span> promise to seek Him \u2013 to find\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span> path God wants us to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n But like many promises, sometimes they take a <\/span>little <\/span>long<\/span>er<\/span> <\/span>to keep<\/span> than planned<\/span>. After my son cam<\/span>e home from the hospital and as<\/span> <\/span>his <\/span>health began to improve<\/span>,<\/span> my wife and I were anxious to bring normalcy back into our days. Soon responsibilities of jobs, social obligations<\/span>,<\/span> and <\/span>kid <\/span>play<\/span> <\/span>days, set the agenda.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span>M<\/span>y<\/span><\/span> need, it seemed, <\/span>for spiritual nourishment <\/span>had diminished<\/span> with the demands of life<\/span>. Though I never forgot the miraculous episode<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>and I would think about it often<\/span>,<\/span> the dominance of secular culture began to rule. New house, new car, expensive vacations, the race was on to live a life that the world promised me <\/span>would deliver<\/span> peace and happiness. <\/span>After a while <\/span>I settled into <\/span>the life of <\/span>a <\/span>relatively happy agnostic. Now and then I would contemplate spirituality. I would pick up the bible and skim through the gospels only reading the words of Jesus \u2013 I dismissed the rest \u2013 the Bible, outside of the words of Jesus, always seemed to take me back to institutionalized religion<\/span>, a place that gave me the \u201c<\/span><\/span>hee<\/span>bee<\/span><\/span> jeebies\u201d. I was looking for miracles and magic words, not rules and demands.<\/span> <\/span>My search for spiritual meaning in my life never really disappeared \u2013 it just sort of simmered <\/span>on a stove top burner <\/span>for a long time. <\/span><\/p>\n As my kids got older and more independent, I began to meet with<\/span> a close group of friends<\/span>, Washington D.C. lawyers<\/span>, mostly<\/span>,<\/span> and <\/span>we <\/span>would gather<\/span> <\/span>at <\/span>the Forth Estate Grill <\/span>regularly for beer<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0f<\/span>rench fr<\/span>ies<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>and lots<\/span> of talk. <\/span> We would talk politics, sports<\/span>, sailboat racing<\/span> and sometimes religion. One of my friends is a Palestinian American who went to the University of Virginia and got his law degree at The College of William & Mary. When he was not <\/span>talking about bea<\/span>utiful women, (hi<\/span>s wife, Fatima<\/span>, was the most beautiful of all)<\/span> <\/span>he <\/span>was our<\/span> designated <\/span>spiritual adviser. He recently completed a lifelong dream of writing a book <\/span><\/span>t<\/span>itled\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWhat<\/span> it all Means\u201d which explores his <\/span>personal<\/span> encounter with God.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n My other <\/span>friend<\/span> <\/span>was more of the activist agnostic who found very little value in organiz<\/span>ed religion. My friend was not the atheist that Christopher <\/span>Hitchens was, but certainly he agreed with most everything<\/span> Hitchens had to say about the <\/span>Catholic Church. My agnostic friend was also not a big fan of the Mormon religion \u2013 he called it a cult started by a charisma<\/span>tic con man named Joseph Smith<\/span>. We had intense conversation about the Mormon <\/span>Church<\/span> and <\/span> this fact<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>as <\/span>it turns out<\/span>,<\/span> became very important to me. <\/span>My friend encouraged me to read Jon Krackauer\u2019s book on the Mormon Church<\/a> <\/span>\u2013 Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>Krackauer\u2019s book about mountain climbing and the Mt. Ev<\/span>erest tragedy, <\/span> <\/span>Into Thin Air<\/span><\/em>, <\/span>is one of my favorite books of all time, so I agreed to read it.<\/span><\/p>\n PLEASE LIKE US ON FACEBOOK<\/a><\/p>\n I quickly plunged into the book about the Mormon religion, but rather than finding myself outraged at the vi<\/span>olent acts <\/span>initiated<\/span> by Mormon <\/span>leaders against innocent people, I found myself much more interested in t<\/span>he Mormon faith<\/a> itself<\/span>. I was transfixed by its<\/span> <\/span>fantastic origins. At some point it suddenly <\/span>struck me <\/span>that <\/span>the<\/span> whole religion was based on <\/span>supernatural<\/span>![\"sean](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/616\/2015\/12\/sean-bloomfield-300x200.jpg\")
By Stephen Ryan Author of Best Selling Marian Thriller The Madonna Files<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"ryan-profile\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/616\/2015\/12\/ryan-profile-225x300.jpg\")