Sunday Reflections - Circumstances

Henry Blackaby, Baptist pastor and author of the book and study, "Experiencing God," says that we hear from God in several ways. First, he speaks through his word, the Bible. He speaks through his Holy Spirit who lives within us in impressions, thoughts, and, sometimes, dreams. He speaks through other people. And he speaks to us through our circumstances.

Betty's older brother, Bill, gave us a call a week or so ago to share something that he said we would understand.

Bill likes unusual and unique antiques and he was going through an antique place that consisted of a lot of different vendors. He saw a place that had old publications for sale.

Bill recalled that Jim, their younger brother, had given old publications to several of us this past Christmas. Betty got a newspaper dated the day she was born, May 4, 1945, and the paper was celebrating the end of the war in Europe. He gave me a baseball magazine dated the month and year I was born, August, 1945, because he knew I loved baseball.

Bill thought it would be great if he could find a magazine dated the same day as the birth of his younger son, John, who was born June 13, 1969.

John was born exactly two months before our oldest son. Unfortunately, John was eventually diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Over the years this was a real stress on Bill, his wife Noel, their older son, Galen, and, of course, John himself. There were recurring lung illnesses, daily therapies, and other requirements that we didn't know about. At age 16, in 1985, John succumbed to the ravages of cystic fibrosis on his lungs.

However, John was a unique young man. He had a great sense of humor and he was very creative, especially in his writings. He wrote poems that expressed a deep understanding of the ups and downs and beauty of life that most adults rarely attain. And, he knew who God was and had a close relationship with him.

So, Bill walked up to this particular vendor who had the old publications, probably not expecting very much - but this was a place to start. There was a small stack of Life magazines that drew his attention and he picked up the one on top.

The date on the Life magazine was June 13, 1969.

Bill said he was stunned, as he put it he had a brain freeze. He first wondered if he was remembering Johns birth date correctly. He couldn't believe that the first magazine he picked up would have the exact date of John's birthday.

If you stop and think about all the circumstances that had to lead to this...

1. Life magazine was published weekly, so that particular issue was published on the very day and date that John was born - June 13, 1969.

2. The original owner of the magazine didn't throw it away after he/she was through with it as most people probably did. For some reason they kept it.

3. We don't know what happened to this particular Life magazine for the next 40 years. It may have stayed with the original owner, or it may have passed through the hands of others - always surviving the ravages of time.

4. It wound up in this dealer's hands at some point and he/she had it for sale on this particular day that Bill was looking for a magazine dated on John's birth date.

5. It wound up on top of the stack of other Life magazines so it would be easily accessible to Bill's eyes and hands.

I don't know about you, but that collection of circumstances seems to go way beyond coincidence.

We told Bill that we believed it was God speaking to him - "I'm real. I'm still part of your life and I love you enough to make this happen."

If that's true, and we believe it is, then God began preparing to speak to Bill 40 years ago on the same day that his son, John, was born. God knew what he and Noel would go through over all these years, both before and after John died. He wanted to be sure that Bill and Noel knew that he had not forgotten them or taken his hand off of their lives. And, I also believe that he wanted them to know that John is with him and is OK.

I think that's pretty cool. It was an early Father's Day gift for Bill.

Happy Fathers Day to all!