Coincidences

My favorite definition of a coincidence is "a minor miracle for which God gets no credit."

Today a gentleman from out of town stopped in to the office to see if a man who had died in a house fire 27 years ago was from our church. By "coincidence," I happened to be in the neighborhood when that house fire occurred. And so while the deceased wasn't from our church, I was able to direct this gentleman to the correct church.

Now, this wasn't a "big deal," and if I hadn't been able to help him, he wouldn't have been surprised. But how cool to have been there, remembered the fire, and also be able to direct this man where he needed to go. It's a small issue, but just another example of how staying in one place for a long time makes you a part of the history of the community.

When I first came here I would listen to the "old timers" talk about community people and go through their "genealogies:" "You remember Sadie, don't you? She was married to Barny Evers, John Johanson's first cousin who used to live in the Bowers house." I thought it was so funny! No, I can follow the genealogy and usually know most of the people!

And that's no coincidence.

Still More ...

I hate to sound like a broken record, but a couple of weeks ago a young couple showed up in our worship service. The husband worked with one of our members, so I assumed that was their connection with us. But the next week they showed up along with her mother -- and I realized that this was one of those networking connections from years ago. I had met her parents and worked with them on some projects at least 25 years ago. That connection certainly wasn't the only reason they chose to visit our church now, but it didn't hurt to know that as they walked into our church at least one familiar face was waiting!

I simply cannot over estimate the cumulative value of years of community service that are now coming to fruition. These are the sorts of contacts that a pastor who moves every five or six years (or who never gets out of his church and into the community) will never see!