God Incidence

Author: Richard Burley

I had a most amazing encounter yesterday. I went to go get a hair cut… much overdo! I struck up a conversation with the Stylist (named Glenda) that was cutting my hair. She asked me about the book that was reading (i.e. The Emerging Churches by Gibbs and Bolger). This lead to her telling me all about the AG church that she goes to. She was very excited about it. I was moved by their missional heart and the fact that they have special services for the incoming numbers of immigrants from Nigeria, India, Somalia and a few others that I dont recall all in those languages! Very impressive. She told me how her brother is the Pastor.

I told her about Deb and my experience in Vineyard and how I”ll always be grateful for what I learned there. She said that she has a relative who is the Pastor of the Vineyard in King Wood Texas. Whoah! Hold the presses. A Vineyard in King Wood. There has got to only one Vineyard in Kingwood… and I happen to know the Pastor as well!! I started laughing and asked her “Is it Bob Towell?”. She said it was and we were both laughing. I told her that Bob and Joyce were and remain to be two of our favorite people in Church leadership and they were our Pastors in Austin! She said that her Brother the Pastor is married to Joyces sister. Amazing!

Glenda and I both agreed that this had to be a God’-incidence. Though I dont know yet what it might mean or lead to. I haven”t seen Bob in over 4 years. I sure would like to see he and Joyce again. And who knows… with this connection I might. ‘Course, now that I’m back in Texas… I could just drive down to Kingwood one of these days and visit.

Where might this lead??? Who knows. But God is good… and He seems to really love reunions. I am really hoping to see them again.

Author: Alissa

This is a story about an actual experience of mine. I have changed the names to protect people’s privacy, but the story is true. It was more than a coincidence – it was a God-incidence.

I was up late one night while in the hospital, and I was talking to Megan, one of the staff, about suicide. I was feeling very suicidal at the time. Anyway, Megan was telling me she had a half-brother who killed himself, and it had affected her deeply. She then proceeded to tell me a philosophy of hers: She believed that each person’s life was deeply important to someone. She used a chair as an analogy: “See that chair over there?” Megan said. “Well, that chair make not make a difference to you or me, neither of us may care about it, but I believe that it DOES make a difference to someone. Someone would miss that chair if it were gone.” I quickly dismissed this analogy as ridiculous, and went off to bed.

The next day, management came upstairs with new chairs. As they were removing the old chairs, Lindsey pointed to the EXACT SAME CHAIR and cried out, “NO, you can’t take that chair, that’s Freddy!!” Although she was just being silly, Lindsey’s statement really struck me. It was as if God was telling me, “See, the chair DID matter to someone. And so do you.” Remember, “you may not mean something to the world, but you mean the world to someone!”

God-incidence Posted By: drdawg

There are co-incidences and God-incidences. Our TV show was broadcast last week so now it’s kaput. But in our own hometown, it didn’t come on. Rorie and I told everyone we knew to tune in, and at 9:00am last Thursday another show came on. Needless to say, we were disappointed and somewhat embarrassed since we had asked so many people to watch. Called the local cable station and they said “Oh yeah, we got the tape but decided to put it on NEXT week.” Amazing. Anyway, Rorie was in a room this morning with a lady who was a BC patient and she had 3 drains and was scared and had lots of questions and after talking with Rorie she said “You know, you ought to be on TV.” And Rorie looked at the clock and it was 9:00am and Poof! she hit the remote and there she was on TV!. A God-incidence. We are still laughing. If the show just touched this one lady it was worth it. Sometimes things just work out. DD

The web is full of God-incidence stories. I’ve just come across this one….

Author: Shelley Marshall

A call from a fan, Cindy, came in today from West Virginia. What a doll she is. The excitement in her voice made me really appreciate the gift God has given me to write the books people like Cindy read. This beautiful young woman invited me to help their young people’s group celebrate their third anniversary. Because the group was named after my second book, Young, Sober, & Free, Cindy thought she had ask if I could attend. This is the trippy part. It just so happens that I am scheduled to be in West Virginia, not 50 miles from her group, around the date of the group’s anniversary! If I just move my flight up by a few days I can make it. Now, what are the odds of my schedule just happening to coincide with their anniversary? Pretty good I say, when one believes in God-incidences.

What about you? What God-incidences have happened to you lately? Some say that “coincidence” – is the word God uses when He wants to be anonymous. But He cannot fool me! I see my Higher Power behind all the serendipitous events of my life. Where do you see you see God in your life? Share with us, I love the God-incidence stories.