God-incidences

This week has been crazy and today -- no exception. Bumped into a pastor on the chapel steps who was visiting from Northern Ireland -- I am a big fan and it was a delight to see him again, so unexpectedly. Sat smiling through all of chapel this morning because I saw him (and I wasn't planning to even go to chapel today -- as usual, I was glad I did, because the sermon met me right where I needed to be -- God at work, again!). Then I bumped into him again on my way to the library! He lives on the other side of the Atlantic and I saw him twice in one day -- not even knowing he was in town. What a gift!

The God-incidence is that, if I hadn't been running by the chapel to drop something off for a friend, I never would have run into him!

Then I went and picked up the hard copies of my ordination exams (previously only the scores were given out), and by doing that I was reminded I needed to move my car from the 2-hour street parking, around to the library where I was headed next. I also saw a classmate (who had missed class this week due to migraines) and reminded her we had no class this coming week, due to the impending Thanksgiving day holiday. Reading over my ordination exam comments affirmed my impression that I had no idea what I was doing; I got 5's on my exegesis (which I thought I had failed) and 3's on my polity (which I thought I had aced). On one question on the theology exam, one reader gave me a 2 and another reader gave me a 4 for the same question. Worship was also all over the map. So very subjective. Really a crap shoot, or divine intervention!

Then I got to hear a wonderful peace speaker, a former PTS grad, just back from 7 weeks in Iraq; she was an inspiration. Saw Cindy Sheehan speak earlier in the week -- another inspiration for me. And then I prayed for patience this afternoon, for two members were coming down from my presbytery to change a video presentation I had spent two weeks preparing (we will show this presentation at a meeting on Monday). I girded myself up to have my ego ripped down, and the afternoon went surprisingly well. Truly an answer to prayer.

After preaching on Deborah in my home church last Sunday, some of this week has been rough, but once again, with God all things are possible. I even made the time this week to enter an essay competition -- a couple of nights up typing/researching at 2 a.m. This weekend involves a little bit of rest, a little bit of paper preparation (ethics paper due Tuesday), and maybe crashing an African wedding!