A Not-Random God Coincidence

This is a story of how God likes to work out crazy coincidences, that aren't really coincidences to him.

I spent this weekend with my mom and youngest sister in and around Biola University in Southern California. We had an awesome time together and there will be pictures and stories from that coming in the near future. For now, though, I'm going to stick with writing about church on Sunday morning.

Since my youngest sister is a freshman, she's still looking around and visiting different churches near Biola. This spring, my parents went to a marriage retreat in Rhode Island run by our friends, Paul and Virginia Friesen. The Friesens had a couple speak at the retreat who were pastors of a church in a town near Biola. So this weekend Charlotte suggested we go visit their church, since it was on the list of ones she was considering.

When we got to the church we began worshipping God with everyone else, first through singing and then listening to the sermon. After the sermon, the pastor said that today was a special day because the church was celebrating the retirement of a Wycliffe missionary couple. I immediately became curious!

When he called them up on stage to have a question and answer time about their 55 years as Wycliffe missionaries, my brain began to have an inner conversation.

"Wait. Dick and Saundra Watson. I know that name. They're retiring. That means they get a commemorative plaque. I've been helping keep track of all the orders for designing and printing certificates like that over the past month."

I pulled out my iPhone (quite a handy piece of technology) and pulled up my Wycliffe emails (yes, I was kind of distracted). Sure enough, there was the email for the certificate for the Watsons saying that it needed to be at the church for this Sunday.

BUT WAIT. It gets better. The Watsons served in several countries over the years, but one of the places they served was Sudan...which is where one of my Houghton professors (Dr. Jon Arensen, who ran my semester in Tanzania) served with Wycliffe for years. Turns out they know each other very well. In fact, Dick used to go hunt buffalo with Bwana Job. [Side note: Bwana just published his third book, The Red Pelican. I got to hear his stories in Tanzania. They are good!]

In summary, of all of the churches we could have chosen to visit on Sunday near Biola, we chose the one celebrating the retirement of a long-term Wycliffe missionary couple. My job over the past month and a half involved helping make sure certificates were ready for events like this. And the couple that was retiring knows my professor from Houghton really well.

And here's a photo to go with it.