Albert Einstein famously said, “There are no coincidences.” It doesn’t take a genius, though, to recognize those occurrences that happen from time to time, that defy common explanation and leave you shaking your head in amazement. It could be something small—a happy timing of receiving just what was needed when it was needed. Or it might be a moment of providence with a life-changing impact. I’m not a genius, but I’ve experienced a few of those “beyond coincidence” situations myself. I’d like to share one of mine in the hope that it will resonate with you, and perhaps inspire you to share your own story of unexplained intervention.
My story happened a few years ago when I decided to take my sons on a short vacation. I could only get away for a long weekend, and though flying to France would have been nice, we decided on a getaway to French-speaking Quebec, Canada for what I hoped would be a similar experience. I found what promised to be a beautiful location to stay—Lac a L’eau Claire, which is about a 6.5-hour drive from Granby. I mapped and printed out the route there, but on the drive, I trusted my GPS for directions. We really appreciated the help, as the route through the town included several one-way roads and unlabeled streets.
We arrived at our destination, and it was all that we hoped it would be. The location was beautiful—and everyone spoke French! The road signs, the menus, the waiters—it was like we had flown across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a challenge to practice our high-school French to communicate and we had a lot of fun trying! Too soon, though, it was time to return home.
We set off on Sunday morning, confident that GPS would once again be our guide, only to find that we had no cell phone service. It hadn’t been an issue on the drive there, but we were now on our own. I had the printed directions from Granby to our vacation spot, and we tried to reverse the order, but the one-way roads defeated us, and we became hopelessly lost. I kept pulling over, the three of us trying to compare the French-language street names on the printed directions with street signs, my sons becoming more agitated by the minute.
We passed a building with a sign declaring it the Bureau d’Accuiel Touristique de Saint-Alexis-des Monts. It was all French to me—literally—but I hopefully interpreted the “touristique” part as something like a tourist office and pulled into its suspiciously empty parking lot to ask for help.
As it was Sunday, the office was closed. My sons were quite vocal in their disappointment, and I just sat there a minute trying to regroup. I couldn’t retrace our steps back to our hotel, we were that hopelessly lost. I couldn’t even use my smart phone to call for help since it had no service. I sat there staring at the printed directions, reading the street names over and over, trying to think, hoping for some kind of miracle.
I looked through the windshield at the crossroad signs in front of the tourist office and saw the name Rue Notre Dame. I recognized that! Sure enough, it was one of the names printed in my directions—right in front of us! I pulled onto the road and followed it southeast until, to my vast relief, we saw signs for the highway we needed. After a few more miles we were able to catch GPS and the rest of our trip home went smoothly.
I will never forget that incident. I was hopelessly lost, and scarcely believed my eyes when I saw that street sign right in front of us when I felt so defeated. Some may explain it as luck, but to me in that moment it was everything. While my sons and I laugh about it now as one of those infamous tales of our adventure, we agree that finding that street sign right when we needed it was a very happy coincidence. Or was it? Albert Einstein may have disagreed.
Have you had an experience like mine? If you are interested in sharing your story and having it appear in this column, please send an email to OneVoiceLifted@gmail.com You can contribute anonymously if you wish and can either write your own story or we will arrange for you to share it with us orally. We will write it in your words and publish it after your approval.
There is a thought-provoking beauty in these stories. In sharing them perhaps we will find power in the realization that they happen more often than one person may think.
This monthly column was inspired by members of Pilgrim Covenant Church in Granby.