and God smiled
Ever have one of those occurrences where you can practically see God give you a knowing wink?
During the pandemic, the Big Chicken Chorus was meeting on ZOOM. Around the first of the year, we found out that we wouldn’t be able to return to the same rehearsal space (once it was safe to be together again). So we started looking around. We settled on one that was just waiting for county approval to re-open their doors. But as the day grew closer, some of the “fine print” didn’t look very good. But the guy who found the place determined to make it work.
Then the timeline started speeding up (we would be back together safely sooner than expected) and more “fine print” came up that made things a deal-breaker. So, back to Square One.
Now when we first started looking, any churches that were having indoor activities at all were limiting them to in-house (no “outside” organizations). But by the time we got back to Square One, many had lifted that restriction. So we widened our search to include churches.
Enter Towne View Baptist Church. TVBC was my home church from the mid-90s to early-00s. While I’ve kept up with a few folks from those days (including some of the teenagers that I taught, now in their mid-to-late-30s, ugh), the church came back on my radar a few months ago. I started following them on Facebook and then saw that they also had a private Facebook group for members and friends. So, I applied to join that group.
I got approved to join the group on a Wednesday afternoon. The latest post in the group was advertising their ZOOM-based prayer and Bible study for that very night. We’ll call this “Coincidence” #1. I rearranged my work a bit and went to the study.
Whenever taking prayer requests, Pastor Jim is faithful to remind us that prayer isn’t just asking God for things, but thanking Him for what He has already given us. As part of that, he noted that his mind had been turning lately to gratitude for the many ways that TVBC has been an impact in its community, and began listing all the non-TVBC things going on in their facility. That he said that the week that I was there — we’ll call this “Coincidence” #2. (I didn’t say anything at the time, but like Mary, “pondered it in my heart.”)
The very next day was when we got the deal-breaker “fine print” news. “Coincidence” #3.
So, I email’d Pastor Jim and asked, “Well, you’re letting ‘outsiders’ in. Have room for one more?” And he did. (So I passed this info on to the right guys in our chorus for further pursuit. And the rest, as they say ….)
TVBC is actually a great venue for another special reason. They are literally 500 feet from the campus of Kennesaw State University — we’ve been trying to make in-roads there for years, particularly to get some students to join us. Now they could walk to rehearsal!
But one more thing. Pastor Jim closed his initial email response to me by noting that he was preparing his Pentecost Sunday sermon about “how the Spirit works in unexpected ways.” That would be “Coincidence” #4.
Yeah, those weren’t coincidences.