Coincidence Or Providence? Series

Everyone experiences coincidence somewhere in life. Two people

say the same thing at the same time. You go to call someone and the

phone rings, and it is the person you were going to call. You flip

open the hymnal, and it opens right to the number you were looking

for. On and on we could go until we listed one you have

experienced, for coincidence is common to all.

But sometimes coincidence rises to a level that is more amazing.

Such is the case with the death of my father. The coincidence is in

relation to Lavonne's father. It is not very likely there are many

mates in the world who had fathers with the same name of Charles,

who lived in the same town, worked in the same meat packing plant,

lived in the same house where they both died, only a few feet apart,

although ten years apart, both in the night in similar ways, and both

were buried in the same cemetery, on the opposite side of town from

where they died.

Lest you puzzle over why they both died in the same place, let me

explain. My parents bought Lavonne's parents trailer home after

her father died. You have to admit this is an unusual series of

coincidences. It is rather amazing to me just because it is so highly

unlikely, but as far as I know, it has no significance whatever. I

share it for that very reason, to illustrate that coincidence, however

amazing, and contrary to the odds, may be no more than just a

matter of chance. Nothing would be affected in anyone's life, that

we are aware of, if our fathers had not lived and died with these

coincidences. I see no value or loss in what happened. It just

happened to work out that way.

Coincidence, therefore, does not necessarily have meaning. But

what if coincidence does have meaning? Then we rise to the level

where coincidence becomes providence. Providence is coincidence

with a purpose-God's purpose. It is no longer a mere matter of

chance, but is the fulfilling of God's plan in history. This too can be

illustrated by what took place when my father died. I had no

intention of going to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I had already

written my parents and told them we would not be coming. Dad was

failing fast, however, and we did not know if he could hold out much

longer. Lavonne told this Jan Toy, and Jan shared with Steve, and

Steve talked to the deacons. He then called me and urged me to take

a few days off to go see my father.

I called home that night and mom said it would be appreciated if

I would come home for a few days. We went, and found dad in

terrible shape. He had aged 20 years in the months since I had last

seen him. We talked off and on through the day, and he listened to

one of my sermons on heaven that I had on tape. That night my

older brother and I visited with him. He was more alert than he had

been for sometime. In the morning mom called saying, "I think he is

gone." I leaped out of bed and ran into dad's room, and saw at a

glance that he was dead. I told mom to call his doctor. While she

was gone I pushed his eyelids closed.

I was surprised he had gone so fast, yet I was calm, for I had

prayed before going to sleep, "Lord if he cannot get well, take him

home." I was only repeating the prayer he had prayed himself a few

hours earlier. Lavonne and I were there to take mom to the funeral

home, and make all the arrangements, and then to the cemetery to

finish arrangements. Then we went back home to spend the day

contacting relatives all over the country. Had we not been there

when we were, we would have missed the chance to be with dad on

his last day, and mom would have been alone. Neither my brother

nor my sister could have helped her that day. It was perfect timing

that we had made it.

What a coincidence that the church would give me time off just

when it was most needed. Nobody could know it was the best time,

but God did, and so we see a coincidence with a purpose, and we

consider this the providence of God. God was working in minds,

events, and timing to accomplish a blessing in the lives of His people.

The blessings were so marvelous that none of us really started the

grief process until sometime later. The point of this long

introduction is to make clear that there is a distinction between