Episode Transcript
You know, it is all too often said that there are no miracles performed these days. Well, I'd like to challenge this idea with my story of the barn out of nowhere. Welcome to Miracles in the 21st Century. I'm Celia Moncrieff. It was some years ago now when I was principal of a small school in Melbourne called Ironbark, and we started to move towards the blueprint. Now, when I say that, I mean we started trying to educate holistically. So we started up a farm. When I first went to the school, there were some elements of the farm there. A pony, and a veggie garden. We expanded this to make an amazing farm. So we used to breed chickens, and we had all of the special breeds like the Silver Laced Wyandottes and the Buff Orpingtons and the Chinese Silky Bantams. The children had to run the farm. So they were supposed to keep the accounts and feed the animals and look after them and clean the cages. And they loved this. They loved the animals. They would pick up the chooks and carry them around the playground. We had rabbits and we had— we ended up with 3 horses. We used to have a big menage and we'd have horse riding lessons. And sometimes I would have people from other schools when we sent ours off to high school saying, the children at your school are different. They are so much more mature. And they, the children at our school, learned to be deeper thinkers and responsible. Now, sometime through this process, I thought to myself, it would be great to have a barn. We've got the chicken pens, and we've got the flower gardens, and we've got the veggie gardens, and we're building all the time on all of this. We've put in some fountains. The place is looking beautiful. Wouldn't it be great to have a barn so that we could groom the horses there and we could keep some small animals in the barn? So, the only problem was we didn't have the money to build a barn. So, at the next board meeting, I went to them and pitched my idea, and I said something like this. I said, you know what? When the children of Israel had to cross the Jordan River, it was flooded. It was overflowing its banks. It was running so swiftly. And God said, "I want you to cross the river." And so he told the priests, "Get in the water." So the river did not stop flowing until the priests stepped into that fast-flowing river. And then God stopped the water and it piled up in a heap, and the children of Israel went across. So I said to the board, I would really like to build a barn to expand our farm, and I think it would be fabulous to have like a nature session up the top, some information for the children to look at, and that would be absolutely wonderful, don't you think? And of course, they're going, yes, but we don't have the money. Anyway, I said to them, you know, we have got enough money to lay the slab, and that's all. So I said, how about if we take up God's challenge and we get our feet wet? So surprisingly enough and amazingly enough, the school board said, yes, let's do it. So we had one of our caretaker from next door was also a teacher, in a high school, and he was also a builder. And he said, "I will help you." So we would pay him to build the barn. And so we put down the slab, and there it is in all its glory, a lovely white slab glistening in the sunshine. It's like, "Okay, this is fantastic. Now we need to put up the frame." So we looked in the account that we'd set aside for the barn, We looked in there and really there should have been no money. We looked in the barn account and there was enough money to put up the frame. It's like, oh, thank you, Lord. And so Michael put up the frame. Then of course you need a roof. So once again, we went back to the barn account and hello, there in the barn account is enough money for the roof. So we put on the roof. And then, of course, we've got walls to put up, and we looked in the barn account, and there is the money for the walls. Now, I have to tell you that that entire barn was built from money that came from I don't know where. Of course, we did a little bit of fundraising. We sold some pavers that people signed, etc., etc. It would have brought in diddly squat. It wouldn't have brought in much money, certainly not enough money to build a whole barn. So when the barn was up, do you think we were praising the Lord? You know, I say this: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. Ever, because how that money got into that account, I don't know. But we prayed, and God was approving what we were doing. He loved it that we were trying to move towards the blueprint and run a very holistic program for the children, including reading Scripture and having music and doing all sorts of things like that. It was doing our children so much good. And animals and children, it really does create a special bond. So I would just like to say to you that nothing is too hard for God. Do you realize that he owns the cattle on the thousand hills and the silver and gold is his? Do you know God does not have a money problem? There is no money problem for God. He owns everything. He made everything. The only problem God has is enough people to believe that He's the God of gods and the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and that as He said, "Is there anything too hard for me?" So that was a small miracle, which we thought was quite big at the time, We got provided all of the finance we needed to get our little farm to grow. It was— we have some funny stories about that barn. We had a goat in there and we used to call her the escape artist because she would come in the barn. We'd put her in the barn and put her in the stall, and she had plenty to eat while we were going to school and all the children were in the classroom at the time. And then after a while, we'd hear, "Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter." Up the corridor of the school, the goat would come. And then she'd come into my classroom. And she would jump up on my desk like she was the king of the castle. Well, do you know what? The children loved that goat. So we had calves the children fed with bottles. And we had a little joey that the children fed. And we had horses. And God blessed our school so much. 'Cause do you know what? He says, "If you do what I say, I will make you the head and not the tail." So the children in our school flourished. And as they went off to other high schools, we realized that children who were maybe, we thought, not so brilliant, became the top of their class or doing very well. So the Lord is good, and don't ever doubt that he can do miracles today just the same as he did in the past. So you know what? God's done a lot more things than that. And if you want to hear more miracles like this, I'm sure if you tune into this podcast again, you will hear some more.
