That Thing God Does

Laurie, my office partner at the church, tells of the lost tooth that her daughter Gracie the other night expectantly placed beneath her pillow before falling asleep.

Morning – and its well planned payout – came, but not without a twist. Laurie says she went to Gracie’s room, her daughter still sleeping. There on the floor – on the hardwood floor that not long ago was covered with carpet – lay the enamel moneymaker, the lost incisor upon which Gracie had placed her faith. Mom and dad had forgotten that the tooth fairy does not take walk-in appointments. They had placed no money under the pillow.

Until, of course, Laurie found the stray tooth lying in full view, on a floor until recently covered with carpet, carpet that would easily have hidden the tooth from the most determined parent’s searching eyes.

More, the tooth – the missing marker of monetary momentum – had escaped its usually well-secured cocoon under Gracie’s pillow. Typically, she places lost teeth in a trench directly below her head, no doubt in an effort to prevent the precious object’s loss in advance of the forthcoming financial transaction. This time – maybe for the first and only time – Gracie must have lodged the tooth uncharacteristically close to the edge of the bed, which allowed it to fall to the floor in plain view of a grateful mom, who just happened to have a dollar bill close at hand. Grace awoke, searched for and celebrated her new wealth, not at all aware of the back story, which her mom believes was a God thing.


Then there’s my wife Shari’s grandfather’s current hospitalization for pancreatitis, a potentially life threatening inflammation of the pancreas. The other night Walter suffered seizure-like symptoms – dizziness and shaking limbs, to name two. Upon transport to a hospital, ER personnel and the usual buffet of tests tracked down the pancreatitis, whose symptoms do not include seizure-like events of the kind Walter suffered at home. To this moment, doctors know his disease, but can’t explain his symptoms or connect them to his condition.

Shari can. She believes it was a God thing, to get her grandpa the care he actually needed.


God things come in packages little and large, in moments serious and sublime. God things come at the crack of dawn and in the middle of the night. God things save us and the people we love from everything from embarrassment to ... you name it.

I mean it. You have to name your God things, because they can’t penetrate determined ego, and are easily cloaked by false bravado or personal desperation. God things are obvious, to the willing and faithful; but they dress in camouflage before the eyes of people too busy, too hopeless to care.

Do you need a God thing in your life today? Do you need a miracle, small or significant? How about a sign, a little teaser from heaven to certify God’s involvement in your life? You shall have one if you’re a willing labeler, if you’re willing to experience life today as a pressure-sensitive board, every impact upon which potentially leaves a divine signature, every incident of which is an occasion of God’s personal encounter with you.

Not every God thing is dramatic or profound. To be honest – and probably a bit heretical – most are too small or too personal to merit the attention of this kind of essay. But exist they do, in your life, at your point of need.

But not if you want the credit for your life’s good turns. Or you honor coincidence or serendipity. Or you think God has abandoned your cause and left you to fend for yourself. In all of those cases, you will claim your God things as either “you things,” or no-things.

As a result of God things, a child has renewed faith in a predictable, if unseen, friend; a parent has been saved from explaining that friend’s unforgivable absence; and a grandfather is able to receive and appreciate visits from adoring family. Our God is an awesome God (thing), indeed.


Pray with me:
I want to see you, feel you, hear you, touch you, be convinced of you today, God. Chances are I will get in the way of that outcome, so make your self and your things clear. But don’t be surprised if I misunderstand (or just miss) your entrance in my life; I can get pretty self-consumed. You’re not done with me, yet – thank you – even though I sometimes act as if you are (or that I am done with you). Hang in, then so will I. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.



p.s. Any God things to tell us about? Use the "Comments" link below this post to share your witness.