Divine Encounters

Have you ever met someone either in passing or because of a mutual place in time and came away thinking, “Wow, meeting this person was definitely not a coincidence. I wonder if we’ll bump into each other again…?”

In the last 2 weeks we have had 3 of these divine encounters. Let me share with you a little bit about each one of these encounters:


1.) Car trouble seems to follow us around like a dark rain cloud! After having our car in the garage for 2 days we were ready for a “stress-relief” kinda day and were excited!  It was this day after leaving a local playground with Hannah and a friends’ daughter that we received a flat tire, (insert *sigh* here). We were on a winding road and tried to find a safe place to pull over before more than just our flat tire became damaged. We pulled into private property where we were promptly met by a gentleman. He told us where to park our van and began to assess the damage. He jumped right in and ran to get his own tools to help us. Between him and David I felt like I was inside a pit crew area! Come to find out we had pulled into a Christian addict rehab haven and he was one of the managers. He was very kind, out-going and gracious. We exchanged contact info and I believe this won’t be the last time we encounter him this side of Heaven.


2.) In between car trouble drama we managed to do some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. It was 3pm, we had been forced to post-pone lunch due to waiting on our van to finish inspection. With a 4 year old in toe we accepted the fact of needing to eat out and decided to eat at the Wal-Mart deli. Hannah picked out a place to sit next to a mom and a little boy. We sat down and Hannah looked over and said, “Look mommy what a cute little boy!” Now normally when such remarks are made we either get weird/blank looks for speaking English or we simply get ignored. This time though, the mom exploded with laughter and the “little boy” (who is not so little, he’s 7) grinned shyly. We exchanged pleasantries and Hannah began praying for our food. When we finished the mom said, “Wow not only do you speak English but you’re Christians too!” We began talking and found out she attends the English church that we used to volunteer at when we first moved to PR over 7 years ago! Needless to say we hit it off wonderfully; even the kids were getting along and playing. Our lunch break lasted almost 3 hrs. We exchanged phone #’s and promised to get together for a play date. We did get together at a park (the same one where got the flat tire) and it rained almost the entire time =( . We spent the time getting to know them better and our first impressions of her were confirmed; a giving, gracious, servant-like sister of Christ who we look forward to getting to know her and her family better.


3.) The last one I am going to mention is a young Deaf boy I met 2 weeks ago through some friends who have an Awana program at their house church for the kids every Wednesday night. I was invited to come and try to work with him since he had no one to adequately interpret for him. I was eager to meet him and help in anyway. We started working on his assigned verses and I quickly realized, like with most Deaf, he got hung up on trying to read every single word and by the time he was done reading a sentence he had forgotten what it says and had missed the meaning. So I asked him if he would like it if we learned the verses in sign language instead of him simply repeating words. I signed it to him and asked him questions concerning the relevancy of the verses. By the time we were done he was excited to find out the meaning behind these words and letters he was being asked to memorize.  By the end of the night he seemed pretty proud about having a person following him around and acting like his personal assistant! I am excited to see how much of an impact our new relationship will have on shaping his beliefs about the Bible, God and his personal relationships.

I believe that these 3 divine encounters were not an accident. Some people might call them “chance” encounters but here’s what the Bible says about these types of encounters:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' " (Mat 25:35-40)

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."(Heb 13:2)

These 3 stories are not the first time we have had these types of encounters. Most of our friendships that have developed here in PR have been through these types of divine encounters. Another example is when David, who is known for his friendly and outgoing personality, introduced himself to some ladies at Wal-Mart simply because they were speaking English! That introduction got us an invitation to their family's Memorial Day cookout where we met their daughter and son-in-law. That introduction later led to us moving onto their ministry camp property to live for a little over a year. It was these very people that introduced me to the young Deaf boy I told you about above. We now get together weekly and Hannah plays with their 3 children. They have become great friends and have been a blessing to us countless times in countless ways. We have been friends for a little over 6 years now!


There are many more stories like this that I could share but by this time I am sure you get the point =)

I am excited to see where these 3 encounters will lead to. I pray that we all will be able to be a blessing to each other as we experience life off the beaten path!