One of the most profound experiences of my life, one which can only be explained as an Almighty Coincidence, came about at a time of great emotional anguish. It is said that if a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it. I once allowed myself to become involved in just such a relationship. Although I desired the relationship to be made public, and had made it public in all areas of my life, the other person succumbed to tremendous pressure – applied by her future ex-husband (from whom she had separated at the time), her parents, her children and her Church of Christ congregants – to preserve her family and her religious affiliations (otherwise she was to be ex-communicated for divorcing her lying and cheating husband). She broke down and made a clean breast of our entire affair in front of her congregation, and promptly thereafter, from the parking lot of the church, called and ended things with me.

I was driving back into town from somewhere, emotionally spent, in heavy traffic, and noticed an SUV in front of me with a license plate that referred to some scripture. I was not amused, and completely discounted the occurrence.  The vehicle turned off the road I was on.  Then, a few blocks later, it reappeared in front of me. How could this be – heavy traffic, SUV turns off, me still driving home, SUV reappears, once again, directly in front of me?  I made a mental note of the scripture. I went home and read the scripture and it struck me as the final confirmation that I needed to at last feel certain there was a God. A few weeks later, that same vehicle once again appeared in front of me. Again? No way! Worse, I had gotten the scripture all wrong. It was Romans 8:28 being touted on the license plate. If I had read that passage instead, I may have read no further. But Romans 8:24? Well, that was altogether different.