Going to the park in town was not on my afternoon agenda. I planned to take my youngest and his best friend for ice cream then pick up my oldest from his afterschool practice. Ice cream festivities ended and my oldest wasn’t finished, so I decided to visit the park and let the boys play.

At the picnic table sat an older lady, obviously supervising the other two children on the playground. I asked if I could join her and an immediate friendship began. She was born and raised in Madison nearly eighty years earlier and she shared all sorts of wonderful tidbits of history with me. Mrs. Inez pointed different directions and identified where tobacco fields once stood, old homesteads, and even local businesses.

With every piece of conversation, there was always a reference to God and his faithfulness, especially when she talked about caring for several different family members who developed dementia or Alzheimer’s. Mrs. Inez has spent over twenty years caregiving and is still seeing after her sister. She spoke with such tenderness, joy, and affection when she shared about what could have been a burdensome task. The joy of the Lord was truly her strength.

As we grew close to the end of our time at the park, we talked about church and the wonderful things happening at her church even though they are without a full-time pastor. She bragged on the younger women who have stepped up, and we praised God together for the blessing her church is to our community.

When it was time to part ways, we shared an embrace, and she told me she loved me. That’s what the love of Christ does. Generations separated us, but Jesus united us. While it seemed like a random meeting, nothing is random with God.

What if I’d chosen to sit alone? Or even stayed in my car? Oh, what a special blessing we both would have missed.

Take time this week to talk with a stranger. You never know what connection God might have in store.