Friday, 14 August 2009

Coincidence and Bible Verses

For he last couple of Christmasses, I've bought little Christian bookstore type gifts or my church friends. Particularly, I've bought things with bible verses inscribed on them. I try to match the bible verse to the person I'm buying for and I almost always find a verse that seems ideal (Coincidence #1). Last year, though, there was one person that nothing was clicking for. In the end I settled, pretty much randomly, on Philippians 3:14. As it turned out, that person moved to another city before Christmas and never got his gift anyway (Coincidence #1b).

Yesterday, I was cleaning out a table - at any rate, I was shifting the junk around - when I found that left-over gift, still in the wrapping paper. I figured there was zero chance of its going to the intended owner now, so I put it in my room, since I can always use another pen. Later in the day, I was feeling quite frustrated and inadequate. I think the exact words I wrote in my journal were 'I don't know if I can do this'. Shortly afterwards, I read the inscription on the pencil I'd just opened. 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' (Coincidence #2) I didn't want to be convinced, but God is pretty convincing. In case I was in any doubt, I read Isaiah 48:3 last night (Coincidence #3).

I foretold the former things long ago,
my mouth announced them and I made them known;
then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
(NIV)

This led me to think of other coincidences, like #4: I thought there was a pen in the package, but it was actually a mechanical pencil. I've been meaning to buy one of those for ages. (Although I'm not convinced that one's divine intervention.) More seriously, #5: I know one of my friends used one of those Christmas pens to share Christ with a colleague. I hadn't really known why I thought Jeremiah 29:11 would be a particularly good choice for him, but I guess God did.

Sometimes, God is weird (I mean that in a respectful way). Also, do you think he did this because I used to tnk those pens were as gimmicky as things got?

2 comments:

  1. "For he last couple of Christmasses, I've bought little Christian bookstore type gifts or my church friends."
    Where do you buy your church friends? I go to www.churchfriendsforreallycheap.com.

    God does have his ways of talking to his children, Thank you Lord!

    In Him, T.J.

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  2. I usually look in the bargain bins at the back of the Sunday School hall. You can get some really good deals on friends there. I'll have to check out that site, though. I wonder if they'd also do proofreading for really cheap.

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