Years ago, I operated a car restoration shop. Early on, when it was just me, I was honored as “Employee of the Month” every month! Don’t laugh: it included a personalized parking space. One problem was that other enthusiasts loved to stop by and just hang out. You can understand it was very important that I focused on my work instead of whiling away the hours talking cars.
One day an old friend stopped, admired my work and said, “I want you to meet someone. I’ll be right back.” Soon my friend returned with his friend. I reluctantly broke away from my work to make small talk. Finally I said, “I’m sorry, but I have to get back to work. This project has to be finished today.” My friend’s friend smiled and said, “May I come back this evening and talk with you and your wife about what you’re doing here?”
Long story short, that chance-meeting connected me to one of the area’s wealthiest auto enthusiasts whose deep pockets quickly quadrupled the size of our business.
We don’t control these things, they control us. We simply aren’t equipped to map out or manipulate our future. We might try to be in the right places at the right times, trolling for possible game-changing encounters, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about those times when we are going about our routine and out of nowhere circumstances converge that change our lives for the better. They may seem to be brought on by sheer coincidence or happenstance… a casual comment or even a chance meeting.
We’ve all used phrases to describe this phenomenon: coincidence, happenstance, God-incidence, even a God-moment. When circumstances converge and we benefit quite apart from anything we might have planned, a chance meeting becomes a game changer.
I believe God’s hand is undeniable in these circumstances. He consistently goes ahead of us, minding and mining our future for gold. If you’ll stop and consider for even a moment, you’ll realize there have been game changers in your life that came about in spite of you. Seemingly, quite by chance, you meet someone who changes the direction of your life. Not convinced? Did you know who your spouse would be before you met them? Did you know where you would go to college, or where you’d be employed before you met the person who told you about your current job?
Many times in my life, I simply looked up and there they were! Like gifts waiting to be unwrapped… handed to me… people I didn’t seek out, opportunities I couldn’t have created create in a million years, right in front of me, waiting to bless me. Of course, we may not realize it at the time, but later, it becomes very clear. We didn’t choose our parents, our native land, or our heritage in Christ; these are all gifts, artfully prepared ahead of time by our kind-hearted Heavenly Father. Like love notes tucked in our lunch box, God obviously enjoys surprising us.
Think about this! He’s active right now, preparing your next surprise gift—hiding it like an Easter egg! He’s positioning “spontaneous” meetings and “coincidental” circumstances in your path and gently nudging you toward each surprise. Yep! I really believe that! Don’t you? I hope you’ll see God as the kind, benevolent provider He is. Give Him credit for those “chance meetings” that become “game changers” in your life.
“He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need,
9) letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making.
He set it all out before us in Christ,
10) a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together
and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven,
everything on planet earth.”
Ephesians 1:8-10 The Message
Take a moment and think of someone who has changed your life for the better, and thank God for giving you that gift.