On Monday this week, I posted an article about showing God’s love to the world – and Kevin Martineau wrote about the same topic without knowing what I was writing about.

Coincidence?…. maybe

Then yesterday, I posted about having a plan when you get into social networking or it will eat you alive. On the same day, Flower Dust posted a similar (but much better) article.

Two coincidences in two days – I think not!

Then last night I picked up a book to read. I’ve had this book for a couple of months now and it’s on my pile of books to review but I just haven’t had the time. I wanted to write a blog post before I went to bed but was too tired and had no inspiration so I thought I’d get a little reading in and fall asleep.

I cracked open the book and BOOM! The book started speaking to me about exactly what God has been saying to me recently about becoming a missionary.

I had no inspiration for a post and I pick up a book, kind of out of the blue, and it gives me perfect inspiration.

Three coincidences in three days? Absolutely not.

I don’t believe in coincidence. I don’t believe in luck, I don’t really believe in chance.

I simply can’t believe that in a world created and overseen by an infinite, all knowing, all seeing God who orchestrates situations for us all the time, anything like luck can happen. I just can’t see God saying:

“Whoa, what just happened there, Peter won the lottery and is now a millionaire? That wasn’t part of the plan. Wow he got lucky there. I guess I’ll have to change my plans now.”

It’s just not going to happen.

So here I am, reading ‘If God Were Real: A Journey into a Faith That Matters‘ by John Avant – and I’m just going to quote a few things he says:

“I fear that for most Christians, it’s just not that big of a deal. God has become merely a part of the culture that is taken for granted. He’s not really the Lord of all life. He’s more like background noise. I get the sense that if he disappeared, we might miss him for a while, like a comfortable jacket we’ve misplaced, but we wouldn’t suffer a substantive loss in our lives.

We may believe that he’s real… we just don’t live like he is.” Page 4

“It’s time to quit blaming all the typical culprits of evil society for our own failures to be followers of Christ. If what we believe is true, then we already have sufficient power, through Christ, to radically transform our world. But if we continue on our current path, we can’t blame the atheists for the pitiful state of the culture. We only need to look in the mirror.” Page 7

“Living for God shouldn’t be boring. When we live as though God is real, the true adventure begins. So maybe, after all, living a boring Christian life is a conscious choice, not an inevitable state. Perhaps for most of us the issue is not whether God is real but whether we really want the life that results from living like he is. Perhaps ‘adventuring for God’ is a little too dangerous and risky for most of us. So the question may be, is it worth it to live as though God is real?” Page 12

I think I’m going to be quoting from this book a lot!

Thank you, Father God, for weaving a beautiful tapestry of lives and guiding us to walk your path together to support, encourage and teach each other. AMEN!