No miracles here, just perception

Arriving home and sinking into my easy chair, I questioned my wife as to what she heard on the audio clip on social media.

She didn’t seem to know what I was talking about so I asked if she heard “yanni” or “laurel”? She just looked at me puzzled so I began explaining.

Before I could fully explain about the viral posting a news story came on the television and she immediately stopped me.

“Have you seen this video yet? It really looks like an angel to me.”

The story showed a video clip from a driveway security camera with a motion detector. The motion detector was set off and the camera recorded an image that I’ll admit looked a lot like an angel with a sword standing guard over the resident’s pickup truck. The guy, who just happens to be a fire chief, believes it was an angel in his driveway and his wife is even more confident of its authenticity.

I told my wife it looked a lot like the stereotypical angel and she said she didn’t see how it was anything else. I said let's get back to this “yanni” thing.

I played the clip for her and like I had earlier on my phone, I heard “yanni” and so did she. We decided people were crazy if they heard “laurel.” The next morning I clicked a different version of the clip on the iPad and clearly heard “laurel.” Now this thing is driving me a little crazy.

The audio clip has reminded a lot of folks about the viral video over the color of “the dress” a few years ago. I always saw that darned dress as blue and black. With controversy at every hand I figured I better go back and revisit “the dress.” With new glasses, hay fever and the beginnings of cataracts I might now see it as white and gold. Nope, it’s still as blue as Monica Lewinski’s dress.

There is no telling how many different items on which the face of Jesus has appeared. A quick internet check yields lists of dozens complete with photos. On toast, chips, pancakes, tacos, water stains, and even wrinkles in a sock. The guy with the water stain actually cut it off his wall and sold it on eBay for a couple thousand bucks.

Some of those images are a little generic, some I have trouble seeing at all but the people who took the photos or at least the people that shared them over and over believed they had witnessed a miracle.

I believe words are whatever you hear, dresses can be whatever color you perceive them to be and really inexperienced angels, like Clarence on “It’s A Wonderful Life,” could get caught setting off a motion-sensing driveway security camera.

I also believe miracles happen every day. I just don’t think they materialize in color-shifting dresses, hovering angel images or pancakes. I think they’re closer to our hearts and change lives forever.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]