ACCIDENT OR PROVIDENCE?

Accident or Providence?

When I went into the U. S. Army as a chaplain my first assignment following my basic training at the chaplain’s school in Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, was at Fort Riley, Kansas.  Kansas can be bitter cold in the winter.

On one very cold, icy morning at Ft. Riley, Kansas, a young soldier slid his car into mine on a slick curve.  As an enlisted soldier with the rank of E-4 he was quite upset and nervous as he discovered that he had hit a chaplain and an officer.  However, we became good friends in the hours and days which followed as we got our autos repaired.

Dennis and his wife, Carol, had let their relationship with God lapse.  In the days following our encounter they renewed their commitment to God and began attending chapel regularly.  In fact, they were instrumental in starting a "Coffee House" ministry for the chapel in one of the recreation centers on post.  I have often thought about how that "accident" was really "providence."

 

I have often felt that way about things that happen in our lives.  Much of that which we attribute to accident or circumstance may really be providential, by Divine appointment.  When other lives and ministries touch our lives and ministry it may well be God at work.                                                                                         

Join me in praying this prayer:  "Lord, I pray that I may ever be alert to Your providential workings, remembering that the steps of a good person are ordered by the Lord."  (Psalm 37:23)