How many times in a week do you use the phrase, “What a weird/cool/crazy coincidence!”
Probably a lot.
You walk through the grocery store, bump into an old friend, and end up making a coffee date to catch up. While looking for your missing car keys, you end up finding an old letter you thought you’d thrown away. You end up getting to the bus stop right before it leaves so you can make it to your appointment on time.
Coincidences? Many people would say yes. At the beginning of the Race, I called those things coincidences. Shoot, halfway through the Race I called them coincidences. But somewhere along the line, I started recognizing the significance of these small happenings. Rather than throwing everything to chance, I saw God’s hand in the big and little.
We know that God works in our lives daily, I mean, that’s the first thing they teach you in church: God loves you and is with you always. But do we actually recognize His work? Do we give credit where it’s due? Do we ever look at a situation, think back three or four steps to see how we got there, and recognize how intricately our day or week unfolded?
In April when I was on a team in Macedonia doing Unsung Heroes (traveling around the country searching for new ministry contacts for future World Race teams), we had divine appointments regularly. On one of our off-days, we were walking through the city center. We had just gone to the grocery store to buy a few things before going to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. As we walked down the path we had taken many times before, a young woman approached us, handed us a small card, and asked if we’d like to join them in prayer that night. We stopped in our tracks, completely in shock for several reasons: First, there are very few Christians in the area, so having someone approach us about prayer was unexpected. Second, it was our off-day. We weren’t on a prayer walk or actively seeking new contacts. And third, she chose to give us the card out of everyone on the street. After talking with this young woman for a few minutes, she took us over to where the meeting was and introduced us to her mission director, who then proceeded to give us the names and contact information of other Christian organizations and churches in the country.
Now. Do you see these events as a giant coincidence? Or do you see them as a delicately woven story about God placing people in our lives to prove that He always provides for His children?
In January when we were in Rwanda, my team was trying to go to a cafe our Pastor had told us about. We had taken a taxi to the closest taxi park, but didn’t know how to get to the cafe from there. We started walking to take care of other errands, and as we finished buying more minutes for our team phones, we started asking Boda Boda drivers if they knew where the cafe was. Of course, none of them had heard of it, but all of them insisted that they could find it. After refusing to go with them, we all started to weigh our options. Should we try to walk around and find it? Should we just get a taxi to go home? Or should we continue calling our Pastor and wait for him to answer his phone? As we stood there on the street, surrounded by motorcycle taxis, and not knowing where to go, we see a young man we had met on our last off-day at the pool. He comes walking down the street out of nowhere, and we all excitedly greet him- happy to see a familiar face. We tell him our situation, and because he knew exactly which cafe we were talking about, he agreed to walk us the few blocks there.
Was it a coincidence that this new friend walked down the street at the exact time we needed him? Was it a coincidence that we had met him at the pool just a few days prior? Or did God have us meet him knowing that we would be in a bind on the street, and would need a friend to help us out?
Even coming to the Race wasn’t a coincidence. It involved years and conversations and experiences to bring me to this adventure around the world. Going on family vacations as a young child gave me a love of exploring new places. Spending a summer with my aunt and uncle who were previously in the Peace Corps gave me a desire to help others around the world. Living with women who encouraged me to pursue the Lord changed my mindset of mission trips. And having a conversation with a friend about my desires to see the world, help and love people, and to learn from other cultures resulted with her telling me about the World Race. All of these things added up to me coming here. Every detail was the Lord planning this amazing journey.
And then when I look at this month, my team is working with an organization called New Song Mission, and our main contact found the organization when she was on the World Race. She had worked with them for her second month, fell in love, and moved back down to Nicaragua shortly after her Race ended. Going on the Race wasn’t a coincidence, being in Nicaragua at this specific organization wasn’t a coincidence, and now she’s creating a life here and God is revealing more and more plans for her future. All of the little decisions and life happenings weren’t for nothing.
I’m tired of not giving credit to my amazing Father who loves me so immensely that He would weave a beautiful web of people, stories, and experiences to shape who I am. I’m not going to throw amazing stories around and call them mere coincidences when they are so much more than that.
A coincidence doesn’t have purpose and a coincidence doesn’t give life. Our Father does. And it’s time to start calling Him out on everything He does for us.
