God Wink

Have you heard these words before?  “God Wink” is a new term for me which I picked up in a conference I attended this month in Dallas, Texas.  No, I don’t think it is strictly a Texas term.  But, as I thought of its meaning the Lord brought to mind a conversation that I would definitely include in the use of these two words.  A “God Wink” is that passing moment, a mental flash, an unexpected meeting, a touch of God’s finger in one’s life that is completely unplanned and unexpected.  This is how it turned out for me…

I was sitting in the lobby of a hotel at 4:30 in the morning, waiting for the shuttle bus to take me to the airport.  A young woman came down and began immediately to talk to me.  I learned several interesting facts.  She was on her way to a college in Georgia to attend a specialized medical course for three months.  She is a nurse.  As we talked, she also mentioned that her husband had died two years previously on this very same day.  And, following that, her father died two weeks later.  So, this was a tough time for her.  Thus the visit turned to a spiritual, rather than just a social, conversation.  She mentioned that God was the One who keeps her going.  Replying to my question as to whether she was a follower of Jesus, she noted that she most definitely was.  In fact, she said, “My husband was a pastor before he died.”  “Oh,” I said.  “Where was he a pastor?”  Her response was certainly a surprise. She said, “At Calvary Baptist Church in The Dalles.” Well, I know that church very well.  Pastor Jim and Barbara Bull were there for several years.  As a new pastor right out of seminary, the pastor of Calvary Baptist was a great mentor to me since I was pastor at a neighboring Baptist church.  Then, I asked her what her husband’s name was, and to my surprise he was someone whom I had met, though did not know intimately.  The conversation continued; she and her husband had met while students at Judson Baptist College, from which I also graduated.  We had a host of common acquaintances from school, ministry and the mission field.  It was one of those moments of immediate bonding and fellowship in Christ though we may never meet again.

As we parted she told me that this conversation was definitely from the Lord.  On this very day in which she needed encouragement the most, God stepped in, unexpectedly and unplanned, to bring her that encouragement just as she was ready to step on the plane to an area in which she knew no one. That, my friends is a “God Wink!”  Look for them in your own life.  They happen almost every day.

~~Pastor Ed

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