“You’ve been counting” a friend remarked as I proclaimed my story about eleven and twelve excitingly. I started praying for eleven and twelve long before I ever knew their significance. I stopped and thought for a split second if my analysis and focus to random details was irrelevant or awkward. Focus on random details, has always been a method of storing and triggering information I feel necessary to tell stories and tie events God has placed in my life together. Eleven and twelve owned significance in my life because of a letter I wrote to a church three hours away from my town. I proclaimed the power of the gospel at this church in January and wrote the letter a few month later. I didn’t know everything at the time but I wrote a long letter stating I felt as though God wanted me to pray for my future roommates. I received back a delighted response from the church and I knew they were going to be prayer warriors about it. Oh, so eleven and twelve are your roommates? Yes! They are the eleventh and twelfth story God has collided with my own in the last six years. I stared at my friend wondering still if he was being sarcastic or perhaps stating a random obvious fact. “Yes I have been counting” I said with a smile.
Kayla and Birdd walked into International Christian Fellowship nearly a week after I wrote the letter, grabbed some Indian food, and plopped down next to me. I knew Birdd because she was one of the cops that worked on the campus I went to in college. She had helped me with a personal situation my last semester in school. She made it her job to escort me around and kept me safe on campus. From the start of our conversation the two girls never stopped talking about how God had recently changed them and never stopped asking questions. That night I asked them if they wanted to meet up with me and be my discipleship group. “Yes” was the answer. The quickest answer I have ever received. Since that day, we never really stopped talking and growing in the word.
Then the choice … Was I going to leave my new found discipleship group in May when my lease ended or was I going to find a place to stay till the end of June? I started praying and asking around for a place to stay for free. I had two pastors and a mentor pray for my discipleship girls and a place to stay for about a month…
Then the random conversation happened… And sadly I can’t remember when it was or how the conversation got brought up but two days later I was moving my bed into my new home. I was greeted by a white German shepherd named Chief and a tiny little black dog named Kizzy. “Swing the bed this way” I told Kayla as we hustled in my belongings… That’s right I moved in with my discipleship girls! It was perfect! We then could read, ask questions, and bounce scripture off of each other daily. I went to bed that first night with Chief staring at me like a hawk and a huge smile on my face.
Eleven and twelve. Funny how Jesus had twelve disciples… But maybe that is just something extra I think about to store details…
