Over and Over and Over and Over

Seems like every time I go to Trinity Church, there is some sort of “coincidence” that freaks me out. This week, I have a doozy.

Perhaps you’re familiar with Sondra K. If you’re a male blog reader, I’m sure you know who she is. She has one of the best conservative blogs. Sondra and I are friends. She is, or was, a pagan. You can imagine how I felt about that. No Christian wants a friend of his to worship trees or rocks or whatever it is pagans worship. When you proactively try to contact and please “gods” and “goddesses,” you are essentially inviting malevolent spirits to infect your life.

Naturally, Sondra and her husband JR have been on my prayer list.

I was surprised a few months back when Sondra said she planned to attend a Catholic mass. I couldn’t believe it. People tend to be pretty loyal to their religions. I thought it was a great omen.

This week, in an email, she said she felt God had been calling her for about a year. I guess I don’t have to tell you I was excited. I suggested she check out some kind of pentecostal church to see what she thought. I said I would contact my church and ask them if they could recommend a place near her. Sondra is near Olympia, Washington, which is around an hour from Seattle.

I procrastinated. I thought I would look stupid, asking these people if they could recommend a church near Seattle. What were the odds that they knew anyone up there? Vanishingly small.

On Saturday night, I went to church. The sermon was about direction. A big part of Christianity is “walking by faith.” That means you try to do what God wants, even when you have no idea what the point is. Sometimes it will seem like you’re doing something silly or counterproductive, but over your life, God will keep stepping in at these times and making things work out. He’s like Mr. Miyagi. You’re doing “wax on, wax off” all day, wondering if the one who told you to do it is crazy, and when it’s over, it turns out you were learning karate. Something like that.

I was really happy to see that Pastor Rich was talking about the very thing that was on my mind. I practiced law, I got a few books published, and then I drew closer to God, and now I need direction. Should I become a mediator? Should I try to write Christian books and articles? I don’t know. I do not want to litigate. That much I am sure of. I do it well, but it’s like mud wrestling for a living.

He talked about the Israelites at the first Passover. They needed to get away from Pharaoh, and instead of a rational plan, God told them to cook and eat lambs, put the blood on their doorposts, and wait. And you know how it worked out. They left Egypt immediately, and the Egyptians loaded them down with money and weapons. Then God took them to the shore of a sea, where they were trapped with Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit. And again, you know what happened. God opened the sea and led them across the floor, and then he drowned the Egyptians. And after that, God stayed before them, in a cloud or a pillar of flame, leading them around in the wilderness.

I hadn’t thought about it, but the notion of walking by faith applies to waiting for direction. You have to assume God will eventually show you which way to go. So I’ll wait.

As an illustration of how this works, Pastor Rich talked about coming to Miami, in 1998. He and his wife lived in another state, in a 5000-square-foot house that was built for them as a gift. They had a son who was a senior in high school, and they had four other sons. They had family in their area. It seemed like they were right where they needed to be, but then they became convinced that God wanted them to move to Miami, and he didn’t supply a big pile of money to help them make the move.

Keep this in mind: for some reason, I had been under the impression that they were from Minnesota.

He started talking about the length of the trip. He said they traveled 4,000 miles, from one end of the country to the other. And I sat up in my seat. Then he said they moved from one corner of the country to the opposite corner. And I thought, “No, it can’t be.” And toward the end of the sermon, he confirmed it. They came here from Seattle.

I had been waffling about accosting him and asking about a church for Sondra, but now I had no choice. At the end of the sermon, I told him I knew someone near Seattle, and I said this person needed a church. He recommended a place called City Church. Then I said she was actually near Olympia. And he said she needed to try Evergreen Church, in Olympia. And the pastor there was his brother-in-law.

Think about this. There are fifty states. There are many, many cities. Thousands and thousands. The population of Olympia is roughly 40,000; it’s not a big town. And my pastor’s brother-in-law runs a church there. Just happens to.

If this doesn’t make an impression on you, you are beyond reach.

I emailed Sondra and told her she had to go and take a look, because if she didn’t, I would not be able to sleep. I am hoping she’ll sneak in today.

It may be a good choice for her. Catholics have a big problem with liberalism in the clergy. It’s very disturbing, seeing men of the cloth side with Marxists and pacifists and people who favor convenience abortion. In an Assemblies of God church, a conservative is a drop-in part. In spirit-filled churches, leftists are a tiny minority, as they should be. It’s amazing that any Christian could vote for Barack Obama, who voted to withhold life support from abortion victims born alive, and who spent 20 years in an openly anti-Semitic church run by a former member (and current ally) of the Nation of Islam.

Today I became a member of Trinity Church. I went to a class, and then the new people had to sit up front and be presented to the rest of the church. I hate being a spectacle, but it’s something they wanted to do, so I stayed. Even though I heard the same sermon last night. I am hoping they’ll find a use for me, beyond holding down a chair. For now, I’m pooped. Three and a half hours of church is enough for anyone.

I told Sondra, “If you end up converting, this kind of thing will never stop happening to you.” She said “coincidences” had been happening to her all her life. Maybe God has had his hand on her. I hope something comes of this. Say a prayer. She gave me permission to blog this.

Now I have to flop on the couch.

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From Sondra:

I met the pastor Dale and he is wonderful.
Yes, I went and survived….and will be going back next week
[snip]
Thank you, Steve 🙂 Life is so grand.

“Freaked out” doesn’t begin to describe how I feel. I can’t believe Sondra and JR listened to me!