I don’t believe in coincidence and I believe luck is only for those people who don’t want to give God the credit. I do believe that every so called accident is an opportunity in disguise. I experienced one today.
While driving my carload of children home from school, I happened to see one of the young girls from our church walking with an older gentleman on the street. This young girl is a freshman in high school and the oldest of four children. Sadly, all are being raised by their father because their mother has not been in the picture for quite a few years. Whenever I see her at church I give her a hug and remind her of how smart and how beautiful she is and encourage her to stay away from the boys. When I teach the junior high and high school girls I remind her that God loves her and that He has an incredible plan for her life. On Sundays she says everything I want to hear until we speak again the following Sunday at church.
I drove past her today and saw that she had her arms around a young man and were quite a ways from the high school. I knew the direction they were headed, towards the convenience store even further down the road. When I passed her, my son and some of the other children said, “Hey isn’t that Emily?” I said, “Yep it sure is.” They asked me if I was going to go back to where she was walking. I hesitated for a moment and then said out loud to both my children and my friends kids in the car, “There is no such thing as coincidence is there kids? God gives us only opportunities.” as my Suburban turned around and headed back.
When I got up to the couple, arm in arm, my tires crunched over the dirt and gravel, announcing my arrival. Emily saw me and seemed a bit shocked. She knew that I hadn’t seen her faux-hawk hairdo before. Her arms quickly dropped from this young man’s waist. I rolled down the window and yelled out, “Hi Emily! Where are you headed?” She said nervously, “To the store.” I replied, “Does your dad know that you are going to the store?” She still had a deer in the headlights look when she called back accross the busy street, “No, he thinks I’m at school.” “Well then, jump in the car and I will give you a ride back to school. I am sure that this nice young man doesn’t want you to lie to your Dad” I told her. You could tell she had a moment of hesitation but she did what I asked and headed accross the street and into my car. This boy, a Senior in High School, in his too tight Mick Jagger jeans and even tighter concert t-shirt, rolled his eyes and mumbled something to himself under his breath. As she got into the car I told her to ask her friend if he wanted a ride back to school too. She ran out and told him that I would drive him back too, so he quickly climbed into my full car.
I gently smiled over my shoulder towards this young man and said, “So, what’s your name?” He quietly said through clenched teeth, “Luke.” I smiled, “Nice to meet you Luke.” I went on speaking each word slowly and concisely through my smile, “Luke, you need to know something. Emily is precious to me. I am kind of like an aunt to her. If you lay a finger on her, touch her in any way or hurt her at all…(still smiling) I will hunt you down and kill you.” You could have heard a pin drop. “Oh, and my husband is an attorney and former cop, he can show me how to hide your body.”
I peeked in my rear view mirror only once to see Emily sitting oddly erect in her seat, eyes wider than I have ever seen them, but with a small grin on her face.
Just then we arrived at the school. I once again smiled sweetly, leaned over and waved, yelling out to Emily and her friend who were quickly exiting my car, “Nice to meet you Luke!”
I will be having a nice little chat with Emily on Sunday.
**names changed for sake of anonymity**
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