In the summer of 2010 Calvary UMC hosted a trip to see the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany. My wife, Lori and I had planned to go and we looked forward to our first European Trip. Following Lori’s death in January 2009, I was finding it hard to imagine going without her. Each time another trip deposit was due to the travel company I considered not going but, every time there was something that told me to send the payment. I felt I was being led to go but didn’t know why.
July 2010 finally arrived and we where off to Europe. Once again I was surrounded by my Calvary Church family and friends. We had a great time visiting Lucerne, Switzerland, Innsbruck, Austria and Munich, Germany. Then we were off to the highlight of our trip, The Passion Play in the small village of Oberammergau on July 20. The theater where the performance is held holds over 4,700 patrons, the audience enters through large garage-sized doors on the side of the building near their assigned seat. As I was walking toward my assigned door I heard my name called. You can imagine my surprise when I turned and saw a friend from years ago. Carol Hayes, who had attended Calvary before moving to Middletown, was there with a group from her mother’s church. I was amazed that I had traveled over 7,000 miles to run into someone I knew. We spoke for a while and then it was time to go in for the performance. The play was amazing; it was the most moving performance I had ever seen.
After returning home, I thought about what a surprise it was running into Carol. Some thoughts began to run through my mind; the play was performed 102 times so almost half a million people had traveled to Oberammergau just to see the performance. Was this the reason that I didn’t cancel my trip? I don’t believe in coincidence, and apparently neither does Carol.
We had been home about a month when I received an email from her (provided by another member of my Calvary Family, Pat Herber). Carol asked if I would like to get together and talk about our trip. We met for dinner and the first thing we both said was how amazing it was that we ran into each other. Over dinner we discussed our tours and how we enjoyed the play but kept returning to the fact that we had run into each other. God is so important in our lives that we believe that we were led to be in Oberammergau on that date, at that time, for a reason.
Since Lori’s death, I had been deep in grief and I was not actively searching for someone to share my life with or “move on”. Though, through my prayers, and come to find out many of my friends and families prayers, it is very clear to me that God has brought Carol and me together. I don’t know where God is leading us but we have been seeing each other since.
Prayer: Lord, it is when we are facing the unimaginable, that we often find just how unimaginable Your love for us is. Help us to remember to put out trust in You. Amen.
Prayer Concern: those searching for a place for their trust.
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