COINCIDENCE OR DIVINE APPOINTMENT?

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  (Romans 8:28)

That’s a very simple Scripture verse, and yet it’s also a very profound Scripture verse.  Many Christians have pondered its meaning; some have struggled with it, wondering how God can possibly work all things together for good.  I certainly don’t pretend to have “all the answers” nor do I have even “most of the answers” for that matter!  I will say that I have experienced Romans 8:28 in various ways in my life.

Early Sunday morning while showering, it was announced over the WRKO news that Jacob Robida, the eighteen-year-old suspect in last week’s attacks at Puzzles Lounge in New Bedford lay near death at a hospital in Springfield, Missouri.  The report went on to say he had killed two people in Arkansas, including a police officer, and was now near death in the Missouri hospital. I later learned the hospital was Cox Medical Center South where my daughter Amy, a student nurse, is doing her clinical training.  

On Tuesday morning, I was having my teeth cleaned.  The hygienist commented about the tragic actions of Jacob Robida.  

“Yeah, he died in Springfield, Missouri at the hospital where my daughter is doing her nursing training.’  I commented.  

“Springfield, Missouri!” she responded, “That’s where my niece is going to college next Fall- at Missouri State University.”  Before I’d left the dentist’s office, I had made arrangements for the hygienist’s brother to call me so I could give him the scoop on all the good restaurants in Springfield, and so we could plan to have our daughters meet this summer.

As I left the dental office I commented that we’d have never made that connection if it wasn’t for discussing the evil actions of a twisted eighteen-year-old.  Somehow his evil deeds had indirectly led to a great conversation and some positive and helpful plans.

Back in the 1950s, my father was an Examiner for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles- in other words, one of the guys who gave driving tests.  During the same time period, he was a flight instructor for the Civil Air Patrol.  One day my Dad was stunned when a young man who’d come up to take his driving test was the exact double of a teen he’d been teaching to fly an airplane.  Dad couldn’t help but ask the student driver if he was related to his student pilot.  It turned out that the two were twins who had been separated at birth and adopted.  Neither twin had any idea of his brother’s whereabouts!  A meeting was arranged and the kids were reunited.  It was one of the high points of my father’s life!

Are such events coincidences or are they diving appointments? I choose to believe they’re the latter!

Sometimes life may not make sense, but somehow “everything comes out in the wash”, or as the Bible says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”