A good friend challenged the view of time and destiny that I described in some of my earlier posts. She said that God didn't have a "secret plan" for people because that would attack our free will and free will is one of the basic tenets of human existence.
I don't consider myself to be much of a philosopher so there's no way I'm going to argue against one of the basic tenets of human existence; but I don't think that our situation is always determined by our actions and the chaos of the world either. To use a pinball metaphor, sometimes the Divine tilts the table.
This was one of those times...
October of 2008
I was agitated. I paced around my small office in NAMI Montana's two-room headquarters. The clock on the wall had passed three o'clock. I had a lot to do, but it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. A cold rain poured down outside and our old building's heater were running double duty to keep up. That turned the interior offices, like ours, into steam baths.
I tried to work, refocused, then tried to work again. My mind was barely plodding along. It was hopeless. Eventually, I gave up and walked across the street to Starbucks for a coffee. I was hopeful that a dose of caffeine and some rain on my face would help salvage the remains of the day. I placed my order and then heard someone call my name.
It was Andrew Person, Senator Max Baucus Veterans' Liaison in D.C. We'd met that summer when Andrew had had a listening session for some of the local veterans advocates.
Andrew said that he saw the article about how I'd meet with Barrack Obama while he'd made a campaign stop in Billings. During the meeting, then-candidate Obama had promised to expand the face-to-face mental health screening program developed in Montana after my step-brother's death across the fighting force. Obama explained that we'd still need to find a way to get Congress to fund the program.
"That's awesome," Andrew said. He's a combat veteran with first-hand knowledge of the need for face-to-face screenings to help men and women in uniform get the help that that they need.
The barista put our coffees on the counter during the conversation. Before going our separate ways, Andrew said, "We should find a way to do some legislation together."
February of 2009
I walked out the doors of the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. Frigid air greeted me. I was still in awe, but some how managed to put on my gloves and hat.
I took a right towards the National Mall. My feet carried me onward past the towering Washington Monument and the frozen reflecting pool. Only a few minutes before, I'd heard Andrew Person say that he thought we had enough for a bill draft. He'd turn it into the Senate staff and let me finalize it.
I walked up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and tried to envision where Reverend Martin Luther King had told the world about his dream. I looked up at the statue of President Lincoln. Warm tears ran down my cold cheeks. I didn't know why I was there.
Words came to my lips. "It still works. The country that you died for still works. It's not perfect, but we can still work together to right wrongs."
It had been less than two year's since my stepbrother's death from a PTSD suicide. The grief and anger were still raw, but Congress had begun the process to make sure that the lessons learned from his death would go on to help save the lives of his comrades in arms across the United States military.
I stood there and cried at the base of the monument. I've never in my life felt like such a bit player in a larger plan. None of this would have happened if I hadn't been driven from my office that afternoon by an overworking furnace at the exact time that Andrew was walking into the coffee place across the street.
I know that others will be able to find another explanation for that chain of events, but for me it was a pretty obvious divine shove.
"I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk, give you counsel and watch over you." Psalms 32:8
Note: I had a song going through my head on the way to the Lincoln Memorial. It was "Walk on the Moon" by Great Big Sea. It's a nice boost of encouragement for when the Divine puts you up against a seemingly overwhelming task. Here's a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXoalnqD7z4
I don't consider myself to be much of a philosopher so there's no way I'm going to argue against one of the basic tenets of human existence; but I don't think that our situation is always determined by our actions and the chaos of the world either. To use a pinball metaphor, sometimes the Divine tilts the table.
This was one of those times...
October of 2008
I was agitated. I paced around my small office in NAMI Montana's two-room headquarters. The clock on the wall had passed three o'clock. I had a lot to do, but it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. A cold rain poured down outside and our old building's heater were running double duty to keep up. That turned the interior offices, like ours, into steam baths.
I tried to work, refocused, then tried to work again. My mind was barely plodding along. It was hopeless. Eventually, I gave up and walked across the street to Starbucks for a coffee. I was hopeful that a dose of caffeine and some rain on my face would help salvage the remains of the day. I placed my order and then heard someone call my name.
It was Andrew Person, Senator Max Baucus Veterans' Liaison in D.C. We'd met that summer when Andrew had had a listening session for some of the local veterans advocates.
Andrew said that he saw the article about how I'd meet with Barrack Obama while he'd made a campaign stop in Billings. During the meeting, then-candidate Obama had promised to expand the face-to-face mental health screening program developed in Montana after my step-brother's death across the fighting force. Obama explained that we'd still need to find a way to get Congress to fund the program.
"That's awesome," Andrew said. He's a combat veteran with first-hand knowledge of the need for face-to-face screenings to help men and women in uniform get the help that that they need.
The barista put our coffees on the counter during the conversation. Before going our separate ways, Andrew said, "We should find a way to do some legislation together."
February of 2009
I walked out the doors of the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. Frigid air greeted me. I was still in awe, but some how managed to put on my gloves and hat.
I took a right towards the National Mall. My feet carried me onward past the towering Washington Monument and the frozen reflecting pool. Only a few minutes before, I'd heard Andrew Person say that he thought we had enough for a bill draft. He'd turn it into the Senate staff and let me finalize it.
I walked up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and tried to envision where Reverend Martin Luther King had told the world about his dream. I looked up at the statue of President Lincoln. Warm tears ran down my cold cheeks. I didn't know why I was there.
Words came to my lips. "It still works. The country that you died for still works. It's not perfect, but we can still work together to right wrongs."
It had been less than two year's since my stepbrother's death from a PTSD suicide. The grief and anger were still raw, but Congress had begun the process to make sure that the lessons learned from his death would go on to help save the lives of his comrades in arms across the United States military.
I stood there and cried at the base of the monument. I've never in my life felt like such a bit player in a larger plan. None of this would have happened if I hadn't been driven from my office that afternoon by an overworking furnace at the exact time that Andrew was walking into the coffee place across the street.
I know that others will be able to find another explanation for that chain of events, but for me it was a pretty obvious divine shove.
"I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk, give you counsel and watch over you." Psalms 32:8
Note: I had a song going through my head on the way to the Lincoln Memorial. It was "Walk on the Moon" by Great Big Sea. It's a nice boost of encouragement for when the Divine puts you up against a seemingly overwhelming task. Here's a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXoalnqD7z4
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