Coincidence...

A chance happening, an accident, fluke, or happenstance. But are there really such things as twists of fate? Or are there reasons for the why and how of things?

I believe in a reason and purpose, because I believe in the God of the Universe.

I wrote a blog last June about a very disappointing and tearful day for Josh and me. It was the day we were sure Josh’s trach tube was going to come out. We went to the hospital full of expectations and hope only to be disheartened by the failure of his trach removal. Finally, exhausted and spent, we began to drive home in the late afternoon each of us in the silence of our own sadness. Suddenly we noticed “The Jumper”. She was dressed in white painter pants and a button-up shirt, sporting a Mohawk. Anger etched her face as she fought the two officers trying to pull her down from the bridge railing. Her backpack sat on the ground beside her feet. This quick glimpse of desperation was gone in a flash as we drove by, propelling Josh and I into prayer for this stranger’s life, our own distress easily forgotten as we pondered the despair that would push someone to such a point.

Now fast forward to October. It was the month my husband and I spoke in our large church sharing our journey through childhood cancer with our son, Joshua. I had noticed them in the audience before, young street kids filling up an entire row of seats. The ministry is called Transitional Youth and a young couple drives downtown each Sunday morning picking up the homeless kids who want to go to church. I didn’t notice them in the crowd that day, after all the lights were bright and I was nervous. But the following Sunday, a young woman with a Mohawk came towards me after the service was over. She introduced herself and asked me to pray for her brother who had had cancer when he was a baby.

“The doctor’s think the cancer is back now” she said. I promised to pray for her brother. We talked a little longer and I asked her how I could pray for her too. After she shared, we parted.

A couple nights later deep in sleep I startled awake. "The Jumper" was the same mohawked girl I had met at church! Though I haven’t confirmed it, I’m almost 100 percent sure. I’ve seen her there every Sunday since. Sometimes we speak, sometimes we don’t. She’s touched my heart. A million questions have filled my mind: how did she end up on the streets, what’s her family like, how did she find Transitional Youth, what was happening when I drove by her that day?

Coincidence? Yeah…right…

"Transitional Youth provides outreach, support, and housing to positively transform the hearts and lives of homeless youth through compassion, guidance and the grace of God."

www.transitionalyouth.org