Ch. 1 A Falling Cliff
James was a devout Catholic convert, a plumber, living in the countryside with his wife homeschooling a family of eight children. He enjoyed the outdoors, volunteering at church, and spending time with his kids. A few years before, his wife battled brain cancer thankfully surviving on a carnivore diet, which is why they moved to rural land to raise beef.
One day James was out on the edge of his property with his son Samuel maintaining the beehive when he saw his neighbor Joe. Joe strolled on over, and the two had a long talk, while Samuel checked a few of his hunting traps nearby. Trapping is the most efficient way to obtain nutrition from the land, even more than gardening or deer hunting, but I digress.
As James and Joe were talking about religion (Joe was an atheist), James pointed to a cliff hanging at an angle over the creek nearby saying “You know Joe, that cliff must’ve been hanging there for thousands of years, all this time not falling into the creek. That is the hand of God.” Joe laughed “That’s the structural integrity of the sediment, James.” At that exact moment the cliff came loose from the land and crashed entirely into the creek. The odds that this occurrence was a coincidence, i.e. accidentally coinciding with this conversation, was at least 1/50,000,000. That’s one in fifty million. At least.
By the way, this incident is based closely on a true story.
James and Joe looked at each other in shock and disbelief. And then James started exclaiming “praise God. That’s a miracle Joe.” Joe responded shaking his head “Yeah, I’ll admit it, if anything is a miracle that is. I’d have to say you’re right James.”
Samuel ran back to the homestead to alert mother and the other kids to come see. That day would change Joe’s life.
Ch. 2. The Documentary
Plumbers make very good money, actually, yet because James was very frugal and the family lived to a great extent off of their land, he was able to bank roll the production of a twenty minute documentary about this miracle. He hired a geology consultant, statistician consultant, theologian consultant, and documentary film maker. The private investigation scrutinized video taken from Samuel’s hunting cameras monitoring his hunting traps that captured the fall of the cliff on video, land records and recent Google gps images, the strata of rock and earth around the cliff, and sworn testimony under oath using polygraph that the cliff’s fall into the creek was not planned.
James was able to save money hiring a local university student majoring in film to make the documentary. It began with a short few minutes of conversation with a local traditionalist monk about his conversion from atheism to Catholicism to a large degree due to miracles. It then showed James’ property through drone footage showing his homestead, the path to the beehive area and creek, and the cliff. Photos were shown taken from Samuel’s hunting camera of the cliff before it fell into the creek. This segment was a couple minutes long.
Next, James was shown taking a polygraph and then giving his account of the miracle, followed by the same for Joe. Joe himself was visibly emotional giving his account, how he now was reconsidering his atheism-materialism worldview. This segment was about five minutes.
Next there was testimony from the geologist and statistician explaining the math and science of the incident, how the facts point with an extremely high degree of certainty to no natural cause of the cliff falling at that moment into the creek. Total time for this segment about five minutes.
And the concluding segment was a five minute discussion between a local theologian and the same traditionalist priest concluding in their opinion the occurrence was a miracle.
Twenty minutes total with excellent footage, analysis, cinematography, dramatic effect, and musical score. James was advised to start a YouTube channel and Facebook page to promote the video, and one of his eldest kids with computer savvy organized it and launched it across social media. Mother counted the project as a homeschool project in computer science and religion combined integrally. In the first day, the video got 50,000 views. After a few weeks he had 10 million views, with over 30,000 subscribers. James knew this was a sign God wanted him to use some of his spare time to keep sharing publicly this miracle, to help convert souls.
Ch. 3. A Catholic Apostolate is Born
James was not good at using a computer, but his daughter Anna helped show him how to use a mouse, log into YouTube and Facebook, and upload videos and comments. Before he knew it he was checking everyday and answering the comments, and sharing his documentary with bloggers and podcasters. He would be interviewed by Anthony Stine at Rerurn to Tradition, Kennedy Hall of Mere Tradition, and eventually even by Dr. Jordan Peterson. He and his documentary were now being discussed by millions of people around the world. He found it interesting that a sizeable percentage of views came from China, whose government is officially atheist.
This all started with one particular miraculous event, made into a documentary, and shared online.
Before James knew it, he was traveling with Joe one weekend a month to present the documentary at different events, give their own testimonial, and answer questions. They would bring many people to God, to Christ, and to the Church. Joe himself became a very devout Catholic, praying the rosary and Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary daily, signing up for weekly Eucharistic adoration, and becoming a third order Benedictine.
Conclusion: God is still working miracles, everyday in fact. St. Augustine said paraphrasing “I would not be a Christian if it weren’t for the miracles.” Miracles are behind every corner in the most unexpected circumstances, God showing us that He does in fact exist and has an all-good Providence over our lives working every material reality for the greater good, especially our own eternal salvation.