Surprise on Straight Creek Trail #51

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly; He delights in every detail of their lives..."
Psalm 37:23

Today was a slow work day due to the hospital having a mere three patients in house. That meant I clocked out early and went home before lunch.  In a brief pause between rain showers, I took my beloved canine out for a exploratory hike.  I meant to take him on Tenderfoot Mountain trail but ended up accidentally on Straight Creek Trail #51.  Considering the options in this county, it was a pretty boring hike (no major viewpoints and paralleled I-70 the whole time), but it was great for Jack with its access to the creek and gentle incline.  As we were headed back to the car, I passed a lone hiker - the only other hiker out on this rainy day.  He happened to be someone I just met and whose home I had been in one week ago in another town.  In my car, I was carrying around a Thank-you letter addressed to him and his wife but had not yet mailed because I had no stamps.  We stopped for a pleasant conversation about wild mushrooms, skiing, and his church group.  I'm sure this will not be the last time our paths cross.

The incident got me thinking about how I have run into just the person I have wanted or needed to see multiple times while hiking in the woods, something I usually do for solitary reflection and quality time with my dog.  A couple times that came to mind were in Connecticut.  A few miles from the trailhead at my usual reservoir trail, I crossed paths with a young woman from my church whose family member had recently died.  She was attending college in another state and I didn't know how to reach her directly.  It meant so much to make a connection and be able to check in with how she was feeling in the midst of grief and transition.

Another time was in my last days of being a pastor in Connecticut.  I had said goodbye to the congregation and was preparing the next day to begin a cross-country move.  My partner and I took Jack to Cotton Hollow Reserve in Glastonbury for one last jaunt in the New England woods.  There on what I recall was another rainy afternoon, we ran into the Sunday School director from my church, to whom I had not yet personally gotten to say goodbye. She and I had attempted to arrange a time for goodbyes and failed.  And then we ended up at the same large rock in the same creek on the same trail at the same time.  Maybe it was a coincidence, but the serendipity and oddness of our timing indicated something more was helping us out.

I believe that God invites us to be co-creators and has given us the precious and sometimes fraught gift of making decisions for our lives (aka free will).  But I also believe God directs our steps in specific ways I cannot totally understand.  There have been too many chance encounters in my life that were just what I needed or what the other person needed to think it's actually and only about chance.  This happens in the hospital frequently in my pairing with patients and families.  There are individuals and families who I know I was supposed to have met because of how much they impacted me, and hopefully, vice versa.

I'll close with a quote that a friend shared with me earlier today.  While it only peripherally ties in with my story on the trail, it expresses well the experience of being gifted with a genuine, not-only-by-chance encounter with another human who gets you and whose life path intersects with yours.

"The real marriage of true minds is for any two people to possess a sense of humor or irony pitched in exactly the same key, so that their joint glances on any subject cross like interarching searchlights."
-Edith Wharton, A Backward Glance