Musings: On the Road...Celebration...Coincidence?

I received a few e-mails from regular readers of the prayer blog wondering where I was this past week. I apologize for the absence of prayer posts. I was "on the road" traveling to and from Washington state to help host my dad's 80th birthday celebration. During that time, I did my daily readings and wrote out my prayers in my journal, but I didn't have time or access to a computer to post them. All the prayers have now been "retroactively" posted.

The most amazing day to me was April 21st, the day of my dad's 80th birthday celebration. The night before, those family members who had arrived gathered for dinner. After dinner, we all sat around and dad told some of the stories from his childhood. This is always a treat, as dad is a wonderful story teller and most of his stories are quite humorous. One story, however, was extremely sad. As we looked at old family pictures of him, his mother, and his siblings, he shared that he did not know his father. His father had abandoned the family when dad was just a baby. The first time my dad saw him was at the age of 27 when he attended his father's funeral. His family name is Elam.

That particular story was on my mind the next morning when I started my quiet time. Imagine my delight when I read the verse in Jeremiah 49.39: . . . in the later days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord. I didn't think this was mere coincidence. I immediately called my father and read him the verse.

His first response was, Are you kidding me?!

I explained that the verses leading up to this verse stated the judgment on the tribe of Elam was that it would be scattered to the four corners of the earth. Looking at his father's life, it was certain that this particular tribe of Elam had been "scattered" in Oklahoma. But God, through His amazing grace, reached out and touched my father's life and redeemed him from absolute poverty, made him a child of the Heavenly Father and restored his fortune. Looking back on his 80 years, he is a man richly blessed. He then stated, I like that! That's really something, isn't it?. . . I really like that!