Some 12 years later, now married and relocated to another state, I was out of work for four months. It's a long story, but I'd amicably resigned from a small company over customer service differences with the owner. I'd been confident that God would honor my decision--only to grow increasingly concerned as the weeks turned into months without another job. But we prayed and waited.
One day my wife returned from a walk through the neighborhood with our daughter, saying she'd met one of my old college friends. Some guy I used to play music with. A Steve-somebody.
Sure enough, it was Steve the harmonica player. He'd been living in the same neighborhood with us for 2 years and we'd never crossed paths. He asked me what kind of work I was looking for and two days later I got a call from a company needing someone with my qualifications and experience. I soon joined their company and eventually became a Senior Vice President in their firm. "How did you get my name?" I'd asked them at the time. "Steve called us and recommended you," they replied. Steve the harmonica player.
After another few years of living in the same neighborhood, Steve and his family moved on, and we lost touch, again.
Some years later I met a new friend, Greg, at an informal prayer group we had at work. He eventually transferred to one of our other divisions - and, when I asked him to keep his eye out for other career opportunities in that division, I was soon copied on an email to one of his colleagues in that division. When they interviewed me, it was because "Greg mentioned you."
I've worked there to this day, and Greg has long since moved on to another, and then another company. We've lost touch.
30 years ago I used to lay in my dorm bed at night praying, "Lord, I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life. Please help me. Please make it all work out." Just as, I'm sure, millions of other people have prayed.
Steve the harmonica player and Greg the prayer group friend are just two of the countless dots I can now connect when I gaze back to see how God has answered that long ago prayer. "Please make it all work out."
You can call them coincidences, but I recognize them as blessings. And I'm thankful.
What do you believe?
