March 7, 2024 - Chance Encounter

     I had a message on the church answering machine last week; I wrote the man’s name on a scrap piece of paper and stuck it in my pocket.  He asked if the church was willing to help folks who live in the neighborhood.
     I get a lot of those kinds of calls, but this one seemed different.  When I got home I put the piece of paper on my desk and it wasn’t long before it was under a pile of things.
     Saturday morning I saw the scrap piece of paper and I called the guy.  We will call him Tom.  I left a message and he called me back almost immediately.
     Tom was concerned about a neighbor across the street who had his leg amputated due to a mowing accident.  He asked if we might be willing to help build a ramp.  We agreed to meet on Sunday morning after church if I could get a couple of guys to go and look at the project.
     When I called him back to let him know that we were coming, I got some insight into the heart of this man.  Tom says to me, “I have been watching him try to get out of his house.  He gets out of his wheelchair and crawls on his hands and knees down the steps, and then tries to get back in the wheelchair.  I couldn’t stand it any longer.”
     Well, that’s about all it took for me.
     On Sunday we went to Jose’s house and met him.  Jack and Harold scoped out the project and determined the plan and the materials, while Tom and I talked.  I got more insight into the heart of this man.  He’s about my age and has a heart for others.
     We “hit it off” as is said.  I told him that I would likely not personally help with the project because I was planning to head to Mayo Clinic and I had a lot to get done.  I assured him that Jack and Harold would be much more skilled.
     Tom isn’t involved in a church right now, though he has been.  He knew the lingo.
     As we were ready to leave I turned to him and said, “I do not believe that your call nor our meeting was a chance encounter.”
     He said, “I don’t believe in chance encounters.”
     I have this feeling that this will not be the only encounter I have with Tom.  I am praying for the Lord’s will in his life.  Visiting Daybreak might just be in the possibilities.
     Lord, may I see Your hand at work today.  So often I see in a mirror dimly and fail to see Your divine appointments.  Then again, sometimes, like with Tom, Your intervention is obvious.  May I see those “not so obvious ones” and be thankful.  Use me today in what others may see as merely a chance encounter, but that You have helped orchestrate.