Aj Schwanz

Sometimes Iím good at picking up on things; sometimes, not so much. For instance, I pretty much knew when my husband was going to propose because he was mysteriously gone one evening and wouldnít say really where heíd been (shopping for a ring), and then one afternoon he was *determined* to go hiking when heís rarely determined to do anything (wanting to propose in a pretty place) and he wouldnít take his hand out of his pocket (clinging to the ring). But other times I canít figure out things, like when Judahís really snarly and I give him a bagel and then milk and then try to give him toys or let him whang on my computer but the crabbies cease to disappear, and then Jason comes by and informs me that according to the readings of his nose, Judahís taken a dump.

Lately thereís been a lot of ìcoincidencesî in my life. And much as ìThe Matrixî chalks deja vu up to being ëa glitch in the matrixí, I donít believe that ìcoincidencesî are always just some random connection of things that Iíve noticed ñ I think they have meaning, but Iím not clear on what that meaning is.

For instance, in my Bible study, *every frickin week* the speaker talks on something that Iíve already come into contact with (and no, Iím not talking about ìwow, she talked on Psalm 119! What a coincidence! I read that all week. Whatís the name of this Bible Study? Oh yeah, something about Seeking after the Purity of God as written about in Psalm 119 . . . ?î).

In reading through the Old Testament, I came to the part where God outlines every teeny tiny little detail that the priests have to do to make themselves holy to come into Godís presence so that God can forgive the sins of the people and be in an intimate relationship with them (i.e. work their butts off so that their butts donít eternally fry). And then the speaker talked about that exact thing the next day.

In my Listening Life group we went through an image prayer of Blind Bartemeus with the intention of coming to Christ and telling him what our hearts desire - ìSon of David, have mercy on me!î ìWhat do you want?î ìI want to see.î. The next day: she spoke on it.

Again, LLG: image prayer with Jacob and the angel wrestling - ìwhat is your name?î Bam: next day mentioned.

I wrote material for a week of Listening Life and had folks reflect on Joel 2 - a book of the Bible that I certainly donít hear much about. The week we were reflecting on my lesson, SHE TALKED ABOUT THAT SCRIPTURE THE NEXT DAY! Joel 2! Who talks about Joel 2?!! I donít even know where I came across it to incorporate it into my lesson.

Itís starting to wig me out. And Iím sure folks are wondering why this bothers me, all these themes and commonalities running through my listening life. Itís because I donít know what to do with them if Iím supposed to do anything at all. Some coincidences I do: I was recently blown away hearing the stories of some recovering addicts who are finding freedom and healing and wholeness through a recovery program offered by a church; my mindís been dwelling on their testimonies - their downtimes are really down, and their high times are really high, but they truly see God - do I see God working so vividly and miraculously through my lifeís mediocre bumps? So when I received a letter asking if Iíd like to contribute somehow in a Celebrate Recovery program being started at my worship gathering, that was pretty much a ìwell, duh.î

But this other stuff is just so . . . vague ñ non-specific ñ seemingly-directionless ñ weird.

Has this happened to you? Is this happening to you? Is it a bi-product of listening, or just a glitch in the Matrix? What are you hearing?