We have all had those moments in our lives that seem to be much deeper then a simple coincidence. Those moments that just do not make any sense at all. In faith circles, we often refer to these moments with terms such as: Godincidences, God Winks, Divine Appointments or Divine Alignments. Over the course of my 50 years on Earth, I have certainly had my share of Godincidences. However, none of my past experiences that I have filed away as divine appointments, even come close to the details of the story I would like to tell you about now.
So I will start with setting the stage with some population numbers, just so you can really appreciate the pin point precision in which this divine appointment took place. For the purposes of the story, tuck away a few numbers. The USA has an approximate population of 326,000,000. The Godincidence I am about share with you really occurred in 2 states, Washington with a population of 7,405,743 , and Oregon with a population of 4,142,776. With those numbers in mind, think about the very slim chances of meeting someone that a random person, that you just met, told you about. .
Genevieve is the first character in the story. She and her family resided in the State of Washington for many years. About a year ago, they moved the entire family to Colorado. While they enjoyed their time there, they decided to buy an RV about a month ago and travel in the USA. The main goal for the family this year was to do the “Grandparent Tour”, which consisted of visiting all of the children’s grandparents. The first stop on the tour was Mount Hood, Oregon to spend several weeks skiing. While there Genevieve happened upon a book in a Portland bookstore, about a traveling RV family who served others while they traveled. This fascinated her and the seed of service on the road was planted in her heart.
One night in April, as Genevieve was sitting around a campfire with some newly found RV friends, she mentioned the book and the idea brewing in her heart. These new friends, Eric and Triann, causally mentioned that they know a family that does exactly what she described in the book. Eric even went as far as to invite them to join them at a service project about 2 hours south of Mount Hood, so Genevieve could meet their friends, Shelley and Frank. If Genevieve was able to join them at the service project, that would have been the end of my story and there really would not be much of a Godincidence. However, her family had other commitments and was not able to attend. *Side note: Eric never thought to mention Genevieve to Shelley and Frank when he arrived at the project.
So now lets move the story to Shelley (that’s me), the next character in our story. Shelley and her family launched into full time RV life two years ago from Connecticut. Coming to the West Coast in 2018 was not in the original plan for their families travels. However, circumstances changed and they found themselves traveling north on the PCH toward Washington. Shelley met Eric and his wife Triann, in Southern California during a Fulltime Families Rally event. They also served along side Eric and his family for about two weeks in southern Oregon at a camp for children with disabilities. She never learned of the other family wanting to serve on the road. After completing the project, Shelley and her family began their trek north. They stopped at Mount Hood with Eric for a few days, before completing their journey to visit Franks family in northern Washington for the month of May.
IF Shelley and Genevieve had simply met at the Mount Hood campground, that would have been really cool but still not a total WOW Godincidence, right? I mean, after all, they would have been both staying at the same campground, so the chances of meeting would be pretty high. However, Genevieve and her family had already moved on to visit the next set of grandparents on their tour.
Shelley and her family made their way north and parked at Frank’s brother’s home. While enjoying their stay, Shelley would accompany her sister in law Susan on a variety of errands. One night, she accompanied her on an errand to pick up her nieces at a friends birthday party. While Susan enjoyed some small talk with some of her friends, another mom arrived to pick up her daughter. Susan hugged her tightly and exclaimed, “What are you doing here? I thought you moved to Colorado!” The woman answered, “We did, but then we purchased an RV and are traveling fulltime. We are here for the summer visiting my husbands parents.”
Okay readers, have you figured it out?
The woman hugging Susan is no other then Genevieve. Genevieve and her family are life long friends of Frank’s brothers family!!! Absolutely CRAZY , right???? Out of approximately 11 1/2 MILLION people between the two states of Oregon and Washington, these two “random” women happen to be at the same place in a remote town in Washington, at the same exact time and know the same people. WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
Of course at this point, Shelley and Genevieve are not aware that God has coordinated this encounter. Susan quickly announced, “Come here and meet my sister in law, Shelley. She has been full time in her RV for about two years.” We are introduced, still unaware of any greater connection then the common thread of full time RV’ing. As they chat, Shelley mentions that in order to full time at a reasonable cost, they really should look into purchasing a campground membership. She mentions she has a friend who sells them if they are interested. Genevieve responds with “We are going to purchase it, we have a friend Eric who sells the memberships.” Shelley’s mouth falls open and says, “My friend is ERIC!!” They both are in complete shock that out of all the millions of people just in the states of Washington and Oregon, they have a mutual friend. A selfie was taken and sent to Eric over Facebook Messenger. The reality of the Godincidence really became clear to both women with Eric’s response. He explained that Shelley was the woman that he wanted Genevieve to meet, way back in Oregon a month ago.
So that, my friends, is the most amazing divine appointment I have ever had. There is just NO way that the meeting was just a random chance or random coincidence. Armed with the knowledge that the Lord arranged the meeting in such a precise way, Genevieve and I have had a chance to sit down over tea and really talk. We know that the Lord has connected us for a reason, but we are unsure of what His plans for us are currently.
Genevieve did share with me the book that started the whole thing. It is called, “Passion to Action”, by Jay and Beth Loecken. The Loecken family traveled full time in their RV for approximately 4 years with the mission to serve others along the way. In that process, they wrote the amazing book and started a ministry/bible study with the same name, Passion to Action or aka P2A. Once I started reading this amazing book, I was intrigued to see where the family was currently serving.
After a search on the internet, I found an old facebook page and their website. Neither had been updated in about five years. I was extremely curious to find out what happened to this amazing family, whose book played a huge role in my Godincidence. Finding a phone number on the page, I dialed it expecting to get a no longer in service recorded message. Much to my surprise Jay Loecken answered the phone! Jay and I ended up speaking on the phone for well over a hour about our family mission and the current status of his family. The family did end up going off the road several years ago to settle in the beautiful state of Colorado. Three of their four children are currently pursuing life as missionaries with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Jay was able to share some wonderful wisdom with me about the dynamics of their ministry and things he would have done differently if he were do it all again.
I don’t know if the Lord’s purpose was to connect Genevieve and I for future missionary work on the road. He may have wanted me to hear the words of wisdom from Jay Loecken, as our own family ministry is developing in a similar manner to theirs. I will have to sit back and wait on Him to reveal his purpose to me. The feeling of being blessed and cared for by a personal, relational God is overwhelming to me. He cares enough about me to precisely coordinate a meeting with a woman in a population of staggering numbers. His hand is in so many details of our lives. Moments like this baffle and overwhelm me.
Do you have a crazy story about a Godincidence or a divine appointment? Would you please share it with me? I would love to hear about the amazing intricate details that He weaves in our lives.
*You can find the book “Passion 2 Action” in audio or written form on Scrib’d. or visit their website at http://passiontoaction.org/