Divine Appointments

I’ve had the joy of God’s perfect planning and timing this week. Being in the “right place at the right time” isn’t always just coincidence—it’s too perfect for that. Who knew that my friend would need a friend to lean on, an ear to listen, and some reasoning conversation after we had already planned to hang out together?

Who knew the next day I’d knock on a door asking for a fellow adventurer for the evening, only to find another friend sick and wishing for a humidifier (one of those things the paperwork said I’d needed to bring since you can’t get them here, but really they’re everywhere and I was grumpy that I wasted the space!) and some sinus meds—I just happened to have them in my apartment. I almost never knock on her door, but this day I obviously needed to.

Who knew my friend down the hall would need a clean-up buddy when a freak-candle accident shattered her glass table top and sent sooty ash and smoke all through her apartment?

HE KNEW!

Sometimes it’s just fun stuff that hits at the right time… a bike ride along the river in perfect weather and a camera to catch some highlights. I spent too long enjoying the scenery so that the sundown mosquito clouds along the river chased me off the path and back into the streets of town near where I live. As I moseyed along the back streets (yes, it really is safe, I promise!) I stumbled on an impromptu market just setting up stalls selling everything from huge slabs of dried seaweed/kelp to pajama sets. I found a cheap shirt, bike gloves (so much easier on the hands), and a vendor who didn’t speak English, but was quite proud of his California driver’s license =)

Basically, I was the only Westerner at a Korean block party with families kicking back to enjoy some dinner, shopping, and conversation with the neighborhood. I was welcome to wander through, but they didn’t make a big deal out of my being very out of place. Camaraderie is the only way I can describe the mood there—I wasn’t a part of it, but they didn’t let me ruin it either. The mystery, wonder, and magic of it was heightened by the twilight hour and the knowledge that I may never stumble on it again.