No Ordinary Meeting

For the past couple months, I've been doing some volunteering in a lab at a hospital in San Francisco. Usually there isn't anything too exciting or special that is going on, but my visit this past Tuesday was different.

The start of the day, I was assigned by the lab manager to do some computer work for her, nothing out of the ordinary. I completed the work in the afternoon, but the lab manager was nowhere to be found. She often disappears mysteriously whenever I need to talk to her. Of course I'm sure she is doing something important. So I decided to leave her a note that I had completed the assigned work and go on my merry way back to my Aunt's house in Daly City.

Before I left the lab, I passed by a room and saw a lady, named Agnes, who I had met about a month ago. After exchanging greetings, we soon began a conversation that I thought would only last a few minutes. She asked me what I wanted to do career wise, and I mentioned how I was looking into clinical lab sciences. Agnes responded with positive comments on how that was a good profession, and soon proceeded to mention something about doing work for God's glory. I surmised from her speech and the poem on her desk about God that she might be a Christian. I then asked her directly, "Are you a Christian?" And she responded in the affirmative. I acknowledged that I was a Christian as well.

I soon find Agnes giving me a couple of booklets, and I was a bit suspicious at first. Somehow she began to talk some theology about providence and election. She was saying some good things, nothing contrary to what I believed. However, I still wanted to take a look at the booklets she gave me. During the conversation, I looked down at the booklets, and she noticed. She then mentioned how those were good books, and how God used that man to help her healing of past trials. Agnes told me that I should go to his website desiringgod.org for more resources. !!! That's John Piper's website! And so I go on and mention to her that I'm going to Piper's conference in Sacramento this coming weekend, and it just so happens that she is too! Whoa, what about that huh?

I'm beginning to think that Agnes is right, that our meeting was not a coincidence. If I had not seen her then, I may have never seen her again, since she told me how she had a new job in southern California starting in about a week or two. I had not really given too much thought to the conference, as I just decided to go since the conference was in sac (I've never really been too fired up about conferences). But all of a sudden, I'm a bit more intrigued now. We'll see what God has in store this weekend.