In All Things...

This morning, while speaking with one of my professors, he told me his story of how he became a professor at Austin Grad. In his story, he said, “I think sometimes there are just some coincidences, but, at times, it is easy to see that what took place was no coincidence. It was clear that God’s hand was guiding me and leading me for something greater.” I agree with him and have seen this in my own life. I will not deny that God is guiding my steps, but I will also not turn down the fact that, at times, things are just a coincidence. Today, however, was a day of little coincidence.

I began the day with a trip to the doctor’s office. After receiving the diagnoses of allergies and a secondary infection, I dropped off my prescription of antibiotics. I then went to the school. Before starting work, I had the above conversation with my theology professor; then, I began work in the library with the previous conversation in mind. It wasn’t long before I decided to set these thoughts aside to invest some time in homework assigned in yesterday’s class, Interpreting the Bible. My homework was to read numerous translations of Romans 8:28-30 and find where each translation differs. I was then to give my thoughts regarding the differences, and attempt to make sense of the confusion. In looking over these verses, I put much of my focus on verse 28:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Of course, each translation differs from the next, but the idea of each is basically the same; however, I spent a good amount of time reading, thinking, praying, and studying about this one verse. Soon enough, the time had passed, and my shift in the library was up.

During my break between work and class, I ran to the pharmacy, picked up my prescription, ate lunch, and took my first dose of antibiotics. I was then off to zone in and out of class due to the amount of allergy and sinus medication I had recently taken.

After class, I pulled away from the school on my way back to the house when I saw Dave. Dave is the man that stands on one of the corners close to the school. It had been a couple of weeks since I had stopped to talk to him, and, to add to that, I had not even seen him standing there for a couple of days. I had actually begun to worry if something had happened. To say the least, I was glad to see Dave. So, I parked my truck and made my way across the street. I could tell before I got there that something was wrong; he looked and acted pretty upset. As I approached him, I asked him how he was doing.

Dave was having one of those days.

He has recently been sick, like myself, and was currently trying to get money to pay for antibiotics (Dave gets medical service because he is a Vietnam veteran). Being sick, he has already had a bad couple of days. He told me of how he was pretty depressed because he had been sick, and, on top of that, he had just lost a $5 bill. While reaching into his pocket, he thought he had accidentally pulled it out, and it blew away in the wind.

He said to me, “Sometimes things are pretty good. Sometimes things are not so good, and it has been a bad couple of days. I understand that things like losing a few bucks happen every now and then, but why did it have to happen today?”

While talking about the good and bad times, God took control and showed me that everything that had happened earlier in the day was leading to this moment. It was then that Romans 8:28 came back to mind:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

After sharing this verse with Dave I said, “We all face some good days and some bad days, and I’m sorry this happened to you. But we have hope, Dave, for we know that in all of this, God is working for the good of those who love him and is unfolding his plan.” I then added, “It could just be coincidence that you lost that money, but maybe, just maybe, that $5 bill landed in the hands of somebody who really just needed at that particular time.”

Dave said, “We do have a greater hope, and God’s will is much greater than our own. It could be coincidence, but I hope it landed in the hands of somebody who really needed it right then.”

After talking a little while longer, we said our goodbyes for the night, and I drove away to my warm house to eat a warm meal with my antibiotics, Dave in the rear view mirror. Pulling away leaving people like Dave behind is, no doubt, heartbreaking, but knowing that the purpose of that moment had been fulfilled gave me, and I pray Dave as well, nothing but a greater hope in a God who, in all things works for the good of those who love him.

-Matt