The Hand of God...Again

Pete and I went to church today. We were going to go last night, but ended up running out of time and so we went this morning instead. As soon as we slid into the pew, Father Tarantino asked everyone to take a moment and introduce themselves to a "new friend". I paused for a second, looked around, and then turned to the couple seated behind us. The woman smiled, extended her hand and said "Hi, my name is Isabelle." The second that she said it, I knew immediately and without a doubt that she was the woman who had reached out to me about her brother-in-law's colon cancer (read my earlier blog). I don't know how I knew this -- I have never met her before and I had no idea what she looked like -- but somehow I just knew. I immediately said to her "Isabelle, I am Julie Wheelan. We spoke on the phone." and after a split second she understood exactly who I was and gave me a huge hug.

She was there with her husband and their son (who, ironically, is 10 days older than Kyle) and so I also met Denis (it was his brother who had died of colon cancer). We talked with them for about an hour after church and none of us could get over how incredibly strange it was that we were brought together in this way. Isabelle and Denis said that they alternate between St Hilary church and another local Catholic church and that they actually came extremely close this morning to going to the other church, but changed their mind at the last minute.

What are the chances that we would all somehow end up going to the same church service on the same day? What are the chances that in a fully-packed church we would slide into the pew right in front of them? What are the chances that of all the people surrounding me whom I could have introduced myself to, I chose them? I am very confident that all four of us departed this morning knowing that none of this was due to chance.