Sometimes, even after a good day of honest work, I find myself not quite sleepy when it comes the usual time for going to sleep. Caffeine after supper will definitely cause that but caffeine was not the cause last night. I’m not really sure what the reason was last night. Whatever it was, I’m glad it happened.

After a longer than usual Board of Trustees meeting, after the Indians proved ungrateful guests of our neighbors to the north by taking a 3-0 lead in the American League playoffs and after the Cardinals defeated the Jets and during yet one more Forensic Files rerun, I tapped into Facebook. While rummaging through the lives of friends and acquaintances, I came across a post by a friend. On an unusual impulse, I messaged the dude who responded immediately.

We ended up carrying on a digital conversation for ten or fifteen minutes. While that was going on, a friend from over thirty-five years ago sent me a message. After a while, I initiated yet another conversation with a third friend. Mister Never Chats on Facebook oddly found himself in pretty serious dialog with three different friends.

One of them mentioned having had a rough day. “I was thinking about calling you,” he typed, “This was even better.”

I think it’s pretty cool when God works out little things like that in our lives. On an unlikely impulse, I’d contacted someone who needed to talk for a while. I ended up carrying on conversation with two other people who needed to hear from someone who cared, someone who would listen and respond, someone who would say something they needed to hear. And all three of them provided that for me.

As a result, four people eventually went to sleep last night (at least presumably) a little more at peace, freshly reminded that they matter to someone else, freshly reminded that God is still at work in their lives, working for their good.

I think it’s pretty awesome knowing a God who can turn inane chatter into something that matters, at just the right time.

H. Arnett
10/18/16