November 21 – “What are the chances?”

We had one of those “interesting” occurrences at church yesterday.  We have been praying for one of our families whose cousin in Oklahoma was fighting cancer.  The cousin died, and after the funeral, her husband came down to Galveston to get away for a few days.  He joined his cousins-in-law at church Sunday.  In fact, one of those cousins actually joined Seaside yesterday.  He’s been coming for a long time with his Mom and sister, but never did join up.  So, not such unusual circumstances as they stood at that point, right?  Well, as they joined the pre-church banter and the Oklahoma kin was introduced to several Seasiders (several of whom are also from Oklahoma), our worship pastor Jim approached (ALSO from Oklahoma).  And in that moment both of their jaws dropped to the floor.  There was a moment or two of, “you … it’s … what are you? … how? …” before some semblance of clarity began to emerge in their thought process.  What was so disconcerting about meeting a visitor from Oklahoma?  Only this … the visitor and Jim had been roommates … back in 1985.  What are the chances? 

And on the other side of the room …

The Matthews family arrived with Bob’s booming welcome filling the room, “Jesus loves you and so do I and there’s not a thing you can do about it.”  But it was Amber who did somewhat of a double-take on her way to her seat.  For quietly sitting in a seat near the back was another first time visitor.  This lady was by herself, and had just decided to try out Seaside since she was staying nearby.  She told me she had been involved with a Korean church in Houston for a long time, but driving two hours one way was just getting to be too far for her to deal with.  So why the double-take?  She and Amber had been co-workers – three years ago.  Hadn’t seen each other since then.  Yet here they were, reunited at a little church on the beach on Galveston Island.  What are the chances?

Both of these special guests stayed for our dinner on the grounds that also just happened to be scheduled for yesterday, giving them the opportunity to reconnect and really catch up with each other.  What are the chances? 

Hey … when God arranges for people to reconnect, “chances” has nothing to do with it. 

Ephesians 3:14-15 says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

Father, thank you for the “old home week” we had at Seaside.  Great to see old friends reconnect.  Amen.