My wife and I went to visit her sister in Ohio one August. The town in which she lives has only a tiny community church, so when Sunday came I asked her where the nearest Presbyterian church might be. She said there was one about twenty minutes away, so we attended that church. It was a totally strange church in an unfamiliar town. We were about as anonymous as we could be.

We read in the bulletin that there was a guest preacher that morning, a visiting missionary. Helen and I looked at each other warily. Sometimes visiting missionaries can be a bit tedious. We noticed that he was an American who was serving as dean of a school in Thailand, where he had been since 1968.

Helen poked me and whispered, "I wonder if he knows our pediatrician" [who is from Thailand]. I passed off the comment by remarking, "Don't be silly. Thailand is a big place, and it's very unlikely."

After the service, Helen and I were the last ones to go through the line and talk with the missionary. When we had him to ourselves, Helen said, "We're from New Castle, PA, and our name is Sloat."

Now, understand: we were one hundred fifty miles from New Castle. He looked at us with surprise and said, "You're Dr. (So-and-so)'s pastor!" I was astonished. I asked, "You know him?"

"Oh, yes," he answered. "I live in his hometown. I know his whole family, his wife and children. His father was one of my best friends." I started to say something but he went on. "I was in their home in New Castle three days ago, when I was in the area for a missionary conference." I was amazed by this coincidence, but he topped even that. "As a matter of fact," he said, "he gave me a copy of your book."

We laughed all the way home about this amazing "coincidence." I had never heard of this man before. I didn't know who was preaching that morning. I had never been in that church before. Why had we picked that church? Why did we go that Sunday? Why did we take the time to identify ourselves? Why had he been to New Castle that week instead of the following week? Why had the doctor mentioned my name and given him a copy of my book?