The Sunday morning service started out as any other Sunday morning service would, in the church filled with people with excitement. "I can't wait to hear the new pastor's message today," one of the elders whispered to a man sitting in front of her. It was a sunny day. The birds sang their melodies as they chased each other in the sky. The pastor was dressed in his finest suit that day. A black suit with a royal blue dress shirt and a pinstripe black, red, and blue tie he wore. He headed to the small church where he started to preach every week faithfully. As he unlocked the doors, some of the congregation began to arrive and enter into the church. "Morning Pastor, you're looking very spiffy today," greeted Sandy, the church secretary.

They walked into the thin-walled white church building and went toward their usual seating spots, where they knelt to pray. After he prayed, as he does every Sunday morning, the pastor called his team to go into the back room of the building to pray over the day's service and the needs. One by one, they piled into the small room and began to pray. As more people walked into the church, each person greeted each other; they could hear the worship team through the hollow walls of the back room, praying. "God we pray for the sick," one said. Another person was heard saying, "God, set people free today". As the prayers grew louder and more fervent, the congregation began to voice their own prayers in agreement. Soon, the whole church was engulfed in prayer over the needs that were being presented in the back room.

There was a woman there who attended church regularly; she brought her young child Brenda to the service that day for the first time. Brenda walked in with her mom, and as soon as she sat down, she went to sleep. Unbeknownst to the other congregants, the child began to have the same nightmares as she had at home. "No, no! Stay away!" she whispered in her sleep. In her dream, she sat beneath a tree in a large field. She watched bubbles that flowed. She stared in fear as she saw the water swirling and a creature climbing up out of the black water. Dripping with black water from head to toe, the creature set its feet on land and began crawling up the side of the hill towards her. The creature, still on all four legs, crawled slowly as the child’s eyes widened in terror. Paralyzed by her fear, she sat beneath the tree, willing herself to disappear into the flaky bark of the tall tree behind her. "No, nooooo!" she exclaimed.

As the creature drew closer, it stood up on its hind legs. Only then did she realize that the creature was a man with very long arms. They hung below his waist just around his knees. His fingers were long like rulers. They curled upward toward the back. The child’s eyes brimmed with tears; she pushed herself further and further back towards the tree without the wherewithal to run away from the man. She looked at his face and noticed that he had no features—no nose and no eyes; there were just holes with worms scaling out. Eggshell white flesh covered the monster's entire face smoothly. Brenda shut her eyes tightly, praying that it would disappear. A beat passes, then another. She opens only one of her eyes to gauge how far the creature was and if he had disappeared by her will.

But when her eyes opened, the creature was no longer but a few feet away. It was less than an arm's length away from her face. Knelt before her, with its limbs dragging beside it, the creature growled at her.

The creature picked up one of his talon-covered hands and pointed one finger to her forehead. Her heartbeat became uncontrollable, and her eyes widened with fear. The creature slowly sliced with the tip of his finger, from the crest of her hair to the tip of her chin. She shrieked in agony; her skin felt like someone had injected fireworks beneath it. While she shrieked in her dream, Brenda’s body stood up from the pew where she had lain in sleep and began shrieking. Her eyes were still closed, but her mouth was in the shape of a frown as she began to scream. Tears were running down her cheeks with her eyes tightly closed. Her body began running around the small church while slamming her small frame into the thin white walls.

Those around her ceased from praying. They stared in horror as she screamed with pink-tinged foam coming out from her small mouth. The pastor and his team had finished their prayer in the small room. And, as he opened the door to enter the sanctuary, he noticed the young girl cornered by some of the other congregants in an attempt to restrain her from hurting herself further. "Don't let her pass!" one member said to another.

He walked between those who were surrounding the girl and drew closer to her, and she suddenly stopped in her spot. He stood within arm's reach and raised out his hand and hovered it over her head. She was scratching at her skin and eyes, pulling at her hair in a desperate attempt at crawling out of her skin. The pastor calmly said, “You are not welcome here, demon; release this girl and leave. We say this in the name of Jesus Christ.” And as the last words left his lips, the little girl's body went rigid, and then she went collapsing into a tiny heap on the floor. Her face went from being in sheer terror to one that was serenely asleep, as though she’d been sleeping sweetly this whole time.

Back in the young girl's mind, her voice was ragged from her screams. She opened her eyes to see a man in the place of the creature that was there before. He had long hair and a beard, and he looked at her with kind eyes. He reached his hand out and touched her soft face, which was no longer torn and no longer in pain. She looked at him in tears and threw her little arms around his neck. He hugged her as he spun her around. He set her back onto the ground and patted her head. Furthermore, he said to her, “I am with you. Do not be afraid.” And then, he turned and walked towards the brook that had once been black and now turned back into clear running waters. He stepped gently onto the water but did not break the surface and walked across the brook and disappeared.

As she watched him walk away in her dream, her eyes fluttered open. She was back at the church. She looked up at her pastor with wide eyes, confused but happy. Brenda smiled at him. She got up from where she was lying and ran to her mother. She threw her arms around her mom's waist and began to cry joyfully. The church went back to their seats and began the worship. The pastor walked up to the pulpit and began his message. The church had witnessed a miracle that day like no other.

A member of the congregation, John the usher, went to work on Monday like any other Monday. As he arrived at the cold, dark factory, he unlocked the back doors and made his way towards the large machines that he was responsible for to prepare the work for his team members. He began to turn each machine on as one by one of his coworkers began walking in. As he continued his way around the large room, the workers began talking and greeting one another, and they began to work.

"Morning Bob." "Morning Joe."

"How was your weekend, Joe?"

"Well, Bob, it was a rocky one, but that is a story for another day."

"Oh, okay, Joe. I'll be here whenever you want to chat."

A man named Fred made his way towards John to say good morning. But before, he went to lay out his working materials in his station. As he approached John, he began to cough and sneeze uncontrollably. "Shu, Ashu, shu, shu, shu, AAAAA. John walked up to Fred and asked, “Are you okay, Fred?” when suddenly Fred turned and sneezed directly into John’s face. "Ashuuuuuuu." Stunned, Fred profusely apologized and ran toward the back room where the restrooms were. John stood in shock, as he suddenly felt his head begin to spin and see everything turning.

He gripped a cold metal bar that was a part of the machine next to him and tried to regain his balance, but the wave of dizziness was too strong. He lurched forward and then back toward the ground. Luckily, he was still able to grip the machine beside him and sustain himself. He made his way to a seated position on a chair nearby. Fred returned from the back room with a mask covering his mouth. He apologized profusely to John. It was an accident after all, said John. Fred headed back towards his workstation, and John stood up from where he had been seated. He still felt the dizziness and the room turning, which made his stomach upset.

He headed toward his own workstation and began to file his belongings to begin his work. As he worked, his skin began to feel cold. He reached up to touch his face and felt sweat pour out and begin to heat up. In his mind, he questioned why he felt so ill; after all, it was just a sneeze. "Oh, Lord, my head, it hurts. Let me see if I can finish this job." He continued with his work, trying to ignore his sick feeling, but he felt himself getting worse. As he worked, his eyes became blurry. His hands began to shake. He felt that he needed to go home.

John went and told his supervisor what was going on.

"John, if you feel so bad, you should go home. Can you drive?"

"I think so. I'll call my wife if I can't drive. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow."

"Okay, John, call me. I hope that you feel better."

"Fred, go home too. I don't want anyone else to get what you have!"

 As John drove, his hands gripped the steering wheel fiercely. His blurry eyes and dizziness were getting worse by the minute. He worried that he would not make it to his home safely. He finally pulled his car into his driveway. Slowly he exited the car and began to shuffle toward the door of his home. John lived in a second floor building. He staggered and crawled until he made it to the second-floor landing. His wife met him at the door and asked him as to why he was home so early. As she asked him, she noticed his face was pale and his skin was very hot.

She brought him into the home quickly and took him to the bedroom, where he lay down. She began to worry as she watched him lie stiffly on the bed. What can I do to help him? She asked herself. John mumbled that he needed some rest, that's all, because his mouth was filled with saliva. Deep inside in John’s mind, he was feeling confused and worried about what was going on within him. He wondered why he felt like he was going to die. John asked himself, what should I do? Should I take medicine? Should I go to the hospital? Or should I call my pastor for prayer?

All these questions were swirling in his mind. Without his knowledge, his wife called their pastor to come. It was as if she had read his mind. So, when their pastor received the call, he made his way to his car to come. As he got into his SUV, raindrops began to hit the windshield. He thought to himself, “It’s going to be a long night.” Then, as he started the engine of his car, a roaring thunder from the heavens sounded loudly. He looked up into the sky and noticed that it had turned dark really fast. Clouds moved in quickly. As he began to make his way across town, the winds picked up, pushing his car around as he drove.

The rain came down in buckets, almost completely blocking his view.  As he was moving slowly through the traffic, a car sped through a red light and crashed into the left front side of his bumper. The pastor jumped and jerked from side to side in his seat in shock at the occurrence. His face hit the airbag, causing him to become dizzy and profusely disoriented. He walked out of his car, stumbling left to right in the rain, and went over to the little red car that hit him.

The man seated in the car looked confused and scared. The pastor looked at him kindly and asked if he was alright. The rain was coming down hard, so he had to shout when he spoke to the man in the red car. He shook his head and said, Yes. He pulled out his license and phone to call the police. The pastor said to the young man,

“No, no, I am needed elsewhere at this moment. Can we settle this later?”

"Why? I really prefer to do this now, if that is okay."

"I have a sick member of my church that I need to go and pray for."

"Oh, you are a pastor?"

"Yes, please come and visit my church some day."

"Okay, I will call you later so we can take care of this accident."

"Thank you, many blessings to you."

The pastor got back into his car and went on his way to John’s house. He felt a heavy, crushing sensation in his chest as he drove through the wet, dark streets. He knew he needed to get there soon, but the rain continued to come down hard. Finally, after such a tedious drive through the storm, he found himself arriving at John’s apartment and walked to the front door. Before he could ring the doorbell, the door flew open quickly. John’s wife stood before him with an expression of fear on her face. She grabbed the pastor's arm and dragged him toward the room, not caring that the pastor was drenched with rain.

As they walked into the room, the pastor saw that John’s illness was grave. John lay in the bed, pale as the white sheets that covered him. His face furrowed in a pained expression. Sweat poured from his skin, drenching the pillow and the sheets that covered him. John opened his eyes slowly and saw his pastor. He smiled weakly and said, “Oh Pastor, I don’t remember calling you. What are you doing here?” The pastor walked to the bed, sat on the edge, and grabbed John’s hand. He said, “Your wife called and asked me to come. I felt in my spirit that I needed to rush.”

And so, the pastor pulled out a small bottle of oil from his pocket and drew a tiny amount onto his hand. Just before the pastor touched John’s forehead, a rushing wind broke a branch off a tree near the house. With a loud noise, the branch shattered the window near John’s bed. Rain and wind gusted into the room where they were. Not moved by the noise, the pastor laid his hand gently onto John’s forehead and began to pray. As he prayed, John felt a sudden peace that filled his heart. He felt his stiffness slowly leave. The pained expression on his face softened to one that looked serene.

The prayer became intense with an urgent tone uttering from the pastor’s mouth. John’s wife stood at the door with her hands lifted as she quietly joined the prayer with the pastor. After the prayer was over, the pastor opened his eyes and saw that John was no longer pale. The sweat pouring out of him had stopped. John opened his eyes and looked at the pastor in shock. He had been healed. He sat up and hugged his pastor. John thanked him for healing him. The pastor looked him in the eyes and said, “Do not mistake this. This was not done by my works, but rather, by our God in heaven.” They stood up from the bed and made their way towards the kitchen, where John’s wife had begun preparing food. They sat at the dinner table and shared the scriptures. Thanking God, they continued to worship him as they ate and laughed.

The priest saw the injured man lying on the sidewalk, so he decided to cross the street, read the pastor as he began this morning’s message. Then a Levite who was going down the same road noticed the injured man, and he too crossed to the other side. But a Samaritan man who was also going down the path as the priest and the Levite was moved with compassion and healed this poor man; he continued to read. He put him on his horse and took him to a lodge to further care for him. And so, the Lord asked who then was this man’s neighbor who was beaten badly by robbers, finished the pastor reading.

And, suddenly, there was a loud crash at the corner where the church was, and then an explosion followed with many people screaming. The pastor stopped and listened to the noise. On top of the screaming, rain began pounding on the window as if someone was throwing buckets of water on them. The congregation got up to look through the windows and vaguely saw fire and smoke bursting into the sky because of the rain that was pouring down. While everyone was looking, they heard the door slam close and saw someone who looked like the pastor with his nice suit running towards the fire. Jane shouted, “It’s Pastor!” She dashed her phone from her pocket and began to call for help. But because of the storm, she was not getting any signal on her phone.

Jim the usher dashed into the pastor's office and searched to find the first aid. Manuel went down to the basement to find blankets. He found ten blankets from the beds of the summer vacation camp. Mary hurried out the door after the pastor; she was a nurse. As the pastor pulled a woman out of a car, Mary began to help her breathe. Sandy pulled her kids next to her tightly and watched. She, too, pulled out her phone and called for help; luckily, she was able to connect and speak to the operator. Who would watch my kids if I ran out? She thought. She was a nurse practitioner who had just finished graduating from nursing school. Sister Ann, the pastor's wife, came over to Sandy and offered to watch her kids if she went out to help.

"Sandy, you should go and help Pastor Ju help those people."

"Who will watch my kids?"

"I will."

"Thank you, Sister Ann."

"Kids, I will be right back. I have to help those people. Sister Ann will watch you, so please do as she says."

Brenda, watch Jimmy; I’ll be back fast, said Sandy, and she went off to help. There was a little boy who the pastor had pulled out from one of the cars who was unconscious. He had a golf stick inserted through his abdomen; blood was slowly pouring out from around the stick. Sandy took off her jacket and was trying to stop the bleeding. She began to give the boy CPR. The boy soon opened his eyes and began to cough from the smoke he had inhaled. Some of the members of the congregation began to take the injured into the church because the police and fire department were nowhere in sight. On the corner of the street where the signal light was, there was a man trapped between a car and the light post.

The rain was so hard that it made it difficult for anyone to see him. The pastor ran by him and heard someone moaning. So, he decided to stop and follow the moaning and found the man stuck between the car and the light post. "O, O, A, A, help," faintly moaned the man. The pastor ran into the church and picked up two wooden boards and some bungee string. He called out to some of the men who were helping around to go and help him. Sandy ran behind the men and noticed what they were going to do to help the man, and she took the strings, and with the help of everyone, she tied the man to the boards. The men pushed the car away from the man and helped to carry him on the makeshift bed to the church. Everyone was pulled out from the accident safely; then the emergency help came. That service was one to remember.