SENTINEL WATCH October 14, 2002 Issue

A step into the new inevitable

By Channing Walker

For as far back as I can remember, I got at least one cold each winter, and sometimes several. It seemed inevitable. Occasionally they lingered. More often, they quickly went away after I prayed about them. Some of these healings of colds came in a matter of hours. A few with speed-of-light swiftness. Although these healings encouraged me, I'd usually get another cold the next winter.

Finally, four years ago, I made my way through the whole winter cold-free. A victory! With the old "inevitable" broken, a new reality settled in. Getting sick wasn't inescapably certain. And in one more of the last three winters, I made it through untouched again.

Do small successes like these hint at larger promises? Being healed of colds is one thing. But what about the huge-scale problems that the world struggles with today—wars, terrorism, serious illnesses, accidents? If there's a common thread to these disparate threats, it might be the inevitability with which we view them. But if a single spiritual healing shatters inevitability in one instance, could the power behind that healing have a wider impact—like spring sunlight that melts a blanket of winter snow not just from our own doorstep, but across the whole landscape? Now is the time to challenge just how inexorable those threats really are.