I hear people on a daily basis discussing the “coincidences” of this, the “coincidences” of that.  I often find it amusing because there really aren’t any “coincidences” in life.  If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, then you understand that He is guiding you, and taking you down roads, if you chose to travel them, that will lead to His perfect will for your life. 

God has recently brought one of these “coincidences” into our life.  On Friday before last, I visited someone at an apartment community near my house.  After visiting, I was going to take a left out of the community and hit Johnny Mercer to go home but there was a lot of traffic. As I was waiting to pull out, I “sensed” that I should turn right and hit HWY 80 home (I hardly ever go this way).  So that’s what I did.  I hit HWY 80, and as I was headed home, I passed by Islands Christian Church, and saw a small sign out front with a Brazilian flag and some portuguese written on it.  I grew excited, and figured that it was promoting a worship service for Brazilians.  I couldn’t wait to get home and tell Christy.  I continued home but the farther I travelled from the church, the stronger the “urge” to turn around and go “check it out.”  I was really ready to be home but I turned around and pulled into the parking lot of the church.  I couldn’t read anything on the sign but was convinced it was a worship service.  I left, got home and told Christy about my little discovery. We were really excited and determined to get in touch with the church to get more information.

Fast forward to the Monday night after the Friday I had discovered the sign.  I logged onto the website and saw a post by a Dr. Everaldo Rego under the “Gospel for Brazil” page.  Intrigued, I read it and I was stunned.  All I could do was just laugh.  God wasn’t content to “show” me the sign, and He definitely wasn’t going to wait for me to contact the church so He “hooked” us up with Dr. Rego.  Who is Dr. Rego?  Well, he’s the pastor of the Brazilian service that is held on Saturday nights at 7:00pm at the Islands Christian Church where I had seen the sign.  Dr. Rego had felt prompted by God to cancel all his appointments on that Monday and search the internet for Brazilians in Savannah or Americans in Savannah that has a link to Brazil.  Wow, what a “coincidence.” 

Christy and I met Everaldo and his family for coffee this weekend (they live in Atlanta right now), and that turned into us going to the Saturday night service (his son, Samuel translated for us) and to us having a fantastic Brazilian lunch/get-together on Sunday afternoon with many of the Brazilian congregation. My out-of-shape self even played a little soccer with the Brazilians.  Honestly, we felt as if we were back in Brazil.  I almost didn’t eat the salad because when we’re in Brazil we don’t eat vegetables because they would make us sick, and lunch was right on time…Brazilian time that is, which is about three hours later than planned. 

We discussed the “coincidence” of our meeting throughout the weekend and even found out that the services had been going on for about six months but because we rarely drive past the church, which is only a few miles from our house, we hadn’t seen the sign promoting the service. But in the end, we all knew that it wasn’t a “coincidence” at all but a divine appointment from God, and we’re so excited to see where He is going to lead us and these “crazy” Brazilians.