"Guided"

About three weeks ago, my son was on his way down to Cohasset for a visit and to cook pizza for our Pizza, Pasta & Pints event. At 9:30 am, I received a call from my son who was feeling nervous and uncomfortable; there was a woman tailing him since the highway, Route 3 in Weymouth.  He was uneasy about going to our home, he had driven around the block three times, and she was still following him!  

Then, while I was on the phone with him, he pulled over, rolled his window down and asked the lady, “why are you following me?”  She said that God told her to follow him.  Not knowing what to say, he rolled up his window and continued to drive towards town.   Now feeling even more uncomfortable, we decided it would be best for him to go to the police station.  The woman continued to follow him down Rte. 3A, thru Scituate all while he was making his way to the Cohasset Police Station.   Suddenly, he decided to pull into the St. Anthony parking lot he thought he would try one more time to rationalize with the woman.  Asking again “why are you following me?”   She exclaimed again that God was guiding her to follow him, as well as some other incohesive murmuring.  He then said will God guide you to follow me too the police station? Because that is where he was going.  She said we will see.    My son proceeded to seek help for the women at the police station and everything ended peacefully.  

Once we had time to gather our thoughts and think about the situation, the woman was being guided both spiritually and literally since my son’s license plate is “GUIDED”!   My son is a trained and licensed river guide, swift water rescuer and mountain rescuer.  We believe God was guiding her when she saw his license plate.  My son used his guiding and rescue skills in an unusual way, that day, still needing to keep calm and find the support needed. 

At the end of the day, my son felt that God had used him, in some small way, to help this woman.  This has left us with these questions and thoughts:   

How often do we miss signs from God in our life—even when they are right in front of us the whole time? 

How often do we use our 20/20 vision to help us see the hand of God at work? And to really appreciate God’s work at hand each day.  

If you think about it, these are “Holy Moments” we need to recognize.  I have found great comfort in finding holy moments throughout various times in my life.  It brings me peace, gratitude and sometimes even amazement when I recognize these moments.          

I would like to share this simple prayer by Frederick Buechner which helps me find and recognize moments in my day:  

“Lord, catch me off guard today. Surprise me with some moment of beauty or pain. So that at least for the moment I may be startled into seeing that you are here in all your splendor, always and everywhere, barely hidden, beneath, beyond within this life I breathe. Amen”  

Here’s to guiding, being guided, and recognizing the joy in Holy moments.