One of the hallmarks of a creative mind is the ability to reframe the ordinary and familiar, to rethink the things we are certain we know well, and represent them in new and intriguing perspectives. Todd Michael has the gift of creativity.

In "The Twelve Conditions of a Miracle," Michael reconsiders the story he calls the Alpha Passage. It's a story any Christian can easily recount - the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Michael asks if Jesus, a great teacher who said we would do more than he did, demonstrated a clear and concrete method we could use to become miracle workers. He answers his question compellingly by returning to the original Greek to reexamine the miracle from the perspective of the original writer. We learn much from this not-so-simple exercise. A wealth of meaning appears in the original that has been lost in the versions we are more accustomed to reading.

Michael's twelve conditions are merely a literary device, for each condition is expressed in a larger number of stand-alone actions. Having mastered them all, the reader would indeed become a miracle worker. But by simply beginning, I have seen miracles occur in my own life.

The cadence of "The Twelve Conditions of a Miracle" is uneven and even unsettling. Michael draws the reader into his subject slowly, systematically building the evidence for his case early on. By contrast, latter portions of the book seem rushed, less well-considered. However, it's easy to overlook such flaws because this is a book to savor - slowly, deliciously.

Will it work for you?

Depends.

Just reading this book is not enough to change your life. Your results depend on whether and to what extent you put its principles into action.

It could take a lifetime to master all that's in this little book. It's well worth your time.

Phyllis Staff, Ph.D.
author, "How to Find Great Senior Housing"
and
"How to Prevent Alzheimer's and Other Dementias"

Todd Michael takes the very familiar New Testament Story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and outlines the 12 conditions that made this miracle possible and then takes those conditions and explains how to apply those conditions to create miracles of your own.

The tone is that of a well-loved teacher or guide. I am thinking of some of the movies I have scene with a teacher from an exclusive school in New England - Mr. Hundert from the Emperor's Club comes to mind. Michael bolsters his discoveries with references from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and has obviously spent a lot of time really digging deeply into the material.

His focus is on the greater good of others, strong on a service attitude. His advice in the Receiving Chapter is to releases something - anything - thus activating an opening for you to receive.

He outlines the 12 Miracle Conditions and then takes it one step further (of critical importance) and that is activating the miracle conditions through application and meditation.

Here is my favorite quote from the book, since it strongly supports my own belief:

"The less a vacuum contains - the emptier it is - the more powerful the attractive force it exerts on the surrounding world." (This explains the releasing in the receiving chapter I mentioned earlier.)

The weakness of the book is the lopsided content within the Conditions. "Engaging" contained only 6 pages (!) It is one of the later chapters. Earlier chapters were 16 pages, 12 pages, with the opening chapter being a whopping 32 pages.

It almost felt like he was pushing a deadline - so the later and equally significant chapters were comparatively rather shallow. They still had great information, I just would have liked to have had more.

I know this is a book I will return to many times over and over. It is a "how-to" that will continue to have an impact on your life.

Choosing to read - and apply - and meditate on the words within will impact your life. Michael says it this way "It's funny, but that's how cause and effect is: the difference in one step, one choice, one word, one little thought form at the point of origin can make a literal world of difference as the flow sweeps us downstream, inexorably amplifying our intent."

See what I mean? Great stuff.....