Mysterious Ways

God most certainly works in mysterious ways.

Have you ever wondered why things go the way they do? Here's how my Saturday went, and at the end I'll tell you why I think it went the way it did.

Megan had been struggling with a cough and congestion for a week, but the fever didn't hit until Friday after school.

By Saturday, early evening, her ear was hurting. Urgent Care was going to close in 20 minutes. We got there with 13 minutes to spare.

While in the waiting room, a brief conversation began between me and a gentleman in his late 50's - early 60's. He was commenting on a woman who had come in and had been very demanding of the Urgent Care staff. Before I could make much of a comment, Megan's name was called. (Note to parents: If you want to jump to the front of the Urgent Care list ... just walk up to the counter and ask them for a bag for your child to throw up in. Megan told me she thought she was going to throw up, so I asked a staff member for a bag 'just in case', and guess who was called next?! Yep. They had us in before 2 other kids who had arrived before us!)

Meg happened to be seen by a Dr. Erickson, who goes to our church. It was nice to see a familiar face, I must say.

We left Urgent Care after Meg had been diagnosed with an ear infection, and headed to the Walgreen's by our house. They were closed. Boo! Sooo I took Megan home and headed to the Walgreen's with the 24 hour pharmacy that was about 15-20 minutes away.

Once I arrived, I noticed that the man from the Urgent Care waiting room just happened to be there too. He told me that he had first gone to Rite Aid, but upon hearing that the prescription wouldn't be filled until the following day, he decided to come to Walgreen's.

Our conversation went something like this ...

Him: Hey, you were seen today by my doctor of 38 years.

Me: Dr. Erickson?

Him: Yeah.

Me: He goes to my church.

Him: Oh really? He's been trying to get me to go to church for YEARS.

Me: Well why haven't you gone?

Him: I don't know. It's just not my thing. Everyone has their thing. I won't judge you and you don't judge me. What church do you go to?

Me: Peoples Church. Now I know that can be intimidating.

Him: Yeah, 'Mega Church'. I go hunting with a deacon from Northwest Church. He's always praying, and I'm always telling him to pray for more birds.

Me: You'd really like our new pastor. He relates so well to people. You should come. At least once.

Him: I don't think so. I'm all right.

At this point I'm realizing that our second encounter isn't a coincidence, so I try to make the most of it by making him realize that life is short, and he needs to think twice about his take on Christianity.

Me: What about all that's going on in Japan? How do you know, that if some disaster happened here, that you would be alright, you know, after?

He thought and thought, and then completely missed what I was getting at ...

Him: I'm a civil engineer by trade, and we're actually in a good place for earthquakes and whatnot. We'd make it okay. And we'd never have a tsunami. I'm not worried.

It was at that moment that he was called to the cash register, and our time was up.

Sometimes I wonder if God started orchestrating that moment, 6 days ago when Megan first came down with her cough and congestion. I wouldn't put it past Him. He doesn't want anyone to perish (John 3:16), so if that means allowing a 7 year old to develop an ear infection so that her mom could encourage a stranger she met in the Urgent Care waiting room to go to church, then that's what He'll do.

When I told my husband about all that had transpired in the past 2 hours, he reminded me that our newspaper just 'happened' to run a story on our pastor today. You can read that article on our pastor here.

Have a great week everyone, and be on the lookout for where God might want to use you!