Just then the Postman arrived!

Just then the Postman arrived!

Have you ever felt startled and astonished by something cropping up at exactly the right moment?  Perhaps, feeling sad or worried, you were wondering how to cope when suddenly the postman arrived with an amazingly appropriate letter.

The Greeks had a word for this: kairos – the right time, the appropriate time, as opposed to khronos – ordinary, everyday chronological time.  We might call it “God’s time”.  When this happens to me, I feel I must sit down and record the incident.  By writing the amazement “out of my system”, I free my mind to deal with more mundane things such as shopping, cooking, washing etc!  And it is good to read about it later on and thank God for this blessing.  Here is one such incident which I’d like to share with you.

'14 January.  Another astonishing coincidence happened today.  The weather was very stormy.  Our Kingcase Praise Group was due to perform at Prestwick South Church, starting at 2.15pm.  But the gale was so strong – gusts of 60mph, with heavy showers – that I began to think that the meeting might be cancelled.  The South Church is right on the Main Street, with no car park in front of it.  I was concerned about how I was going to reach the hall with my cello, music bag and two music stands (one for my violinist friend, Jean). Perhaps I would have to park at a distance, in the supermarket car park, and struggle against the wind with my cumbersome heavy load.

Over my early lunch I sat anxiously visualising the layout of the South Church and its hall, trying to remember if there was a little lane down one side, leading to a small car park at the back? 

Just then the postman dropped a letter through my letterbox.

To my delight it was from my dear cousin Fiona in London.  She told me that because of recent major dental surgery she had been keeping indoors, tackling some long-overdue jobs.  She and her husband John were moving a heavy old table which had belonged to his mother when to their surprise they found it had a hidden drawer, in which they discovered old photos dating back to the 1930s, plus his parents’ marriage certificate.  As John had no knowledge whatsoever of any family connection with Ayrshire, they were even more surprised when they read that the marriage had taken place in - Prestwick South Church!

My jaw dropped in amazement at the timing of this news, then, forgetting my anxiety, I chortled with delight at having another example of kairos to record in my notebook!

And when I arrived at the South Church, still chuckling, somebody directed me to a parking space immediately beside the back door...'

                                                    

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