Coincidences

(I don't believe in them.)

OK, crazy story.

A few weeks ago I rode along with a friend named Jay to Cincinnati, OH. He was delivering a car to his brother in law, and we pulled it on a U-Haul trailer behind his pickup. He didn’t need the help, but I am always up for a good roadtrip and was excited to hang out with Jay and also see his brother in law, and my longtime friend, Rick, so I volunteered to ride shotgun.

We had planned to go out on a Monday, driving straight through, leaving the car and then returning home on Tuesday. But it snowed that Sunday so we pushed everything back a day.

No harm no foul, except that change messed up our plans to meet a man named Larry. Larry is a pastor in Ohio who had befriended Rick - Jay’s brother in law, and the recipient of the car - about a dozen years ago. I mean, in the most selfless, Christ-like way of befriending that you can imagine. A guardian Angel might be a better description.

Jay and his wife had talked to Larry many times over the past decade, often via email and text, but they had never met. I had the privilege of interacting with Pastor Larry many times too, and Jay and I were looking forward to finally meeting him in person. We wanted to thank him for being an incredible blessing to Rick and the family.

But Pastor Larry had a dinner meeting on Tuesday night, and the change in plans meant we were going to miss him…likely our only chance to ever meet him in person.

Jay and I left very early that Tuesday morning from Milford, DE and drove straight to Cincinnati where we met Rick at his apartment, unloaded a few things, and then set off for the U-Haul Store to unload the car and leave the trailer. We planned to grab dinner with Rick and then drive back as far as Columbus that night, so we would get home earlier on Wednesday.

Three quarters of the way to the U-Haul Store, pulling the trailer and car, and after having been in the pickup for about 15 hours, Rick realized he had left the car key at the apartment. That meant we couldn’t start the car to back it off the trailer.

That was not the most welcome news after a long day, but we turned around, drove about half an hour back to the apartment, grabbed the key, then drove back to the U-Haul place where we unloaded the car, unhooked the trailer, and decided we were not only very tired but also very hungry.

Jay had spotted a Longhorn Steakhouse a couple blocks away and suggested we go get a steak before starting the trip back towards Columbus.

We were just sitting down in the booth when a man I didn’t recognize slid in next to Rick.

It was Pastor Larry.

His dinner meeting, unbeknownst to us, was at the Longhorn Steakhouse, two booths away.

Out of every restaurant in Cincinnati, Pastor Larry was at that one when we walked in.

The odds of that are astronomical. Every minute of our day had to come together in order for that to happen. Our early departure from Delaware. Every bathroom and fuel stop. Even the forgotten car key, which set us back at least an hour, and at the time seemed like a big inconvenience.

Every event timed out perfectly so that we would somehow end up at the same restaurant in the same section at the same time as Pastor Larry.

We all needed that little reminder that God orders our steps, and in the good and the bad and the seemingly inconvenient, He is working behind the scenes to guide and direct. If He does it for the little things like allowing us to shake the hand of man we admired from afar, how comforting to know He also has the bigger stuff under control.

Psalm 37:23

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.