By Chance or By God?

God places people In Your Path at Just the Right Time

Between my freshman and sophomore year in college, I worked as a dispatcher for job orders for turning on and off electrical service. Not the most exciting job in the world, but I worked with a man named Hayden who made it fun.

He was a quirky, silly man who kept me laughing with his weird jokes like, “Do you know no matter how hard a fish swims he never sweats?”Or telling me stories of how he used to crank call pizza places by asking them, “Can you cut the pizza in 4 slices because I can’t eat 10?”

 He would spend time explaining to me that his jeans weren’t jeans, they were, dungarees. He tortured me day in and day out singing loudly to his favorite Neil Young songs.

He always kept the mood light at the office, mostly surface talk just odd jokes and fun. Occasionally, I would get a glimpse at a deeper side of Hayden, but that was rare.

On my Grandmother’s birthday, July 15^th, I was called into the office manager’s office. She was a tall stern woman who never smiled. She just walked around the office peaking in on people, making sure they were working. Nobody was very fond of her mainly because of the way she carried herself. When she called me into the office, I was nervous wondering what I had done, was I in trouble?

I walked in her office, and she closed the door behind me. Then, she quickly handed me the phone. She said, “Your Dad is on the phone for you.”  I thought that was weird.

Right then, I heard him say, “Your Grandpa, Hubert, hung himself this morning.” The room began to spin out of control, my eyes filled up fast, and I found myself collapsing in Jonnie’s arms.  How could this be? How could my Grandpa hang himself on a tree on my Grandma’s birthday? The room seemed to spin.

Crying hysterically, Jonnie walked me into the dispatch office. She said,” Hayden is going to drive you home.”  He quietly and quickly got his keys, and I followed him to his car. I was still crying with my head down in disbelief that my “Pa” had done this.

How could my Pa do this? My Grandpa who was always smiling, telling jokes had taken his life.  How was she going to take this? Could I bear to see my Mom so hurt that her Daddy had done this?  I was completely beside myself.

As we drove out of the parking lot, I finally lifted my head and looked at Hayden and asked, “Do you know, Do you know what happened? “

He said, “No I don’t know.”

I said, “My Grandpa hung himself on the tree last night in his backyard. Today is my Grandma’s birthday, and he left her this as a birthday gift. “

There was a different Hayden sitting next to me. He looked at me with sad eyes.He said, ” I understand what you’re going through. A couple of months ago, my wife’s sister hung herself in the shower stall.”He shared his pain over her suicide with me.

The entire ride home he calmed me by sharing his story and loving me. When we got to the driveway, he gave me a hug. I felt that his love for me, his personal experience with suicide was just what I needed.  God used Hayden to comfort me before I walked into the house and faced my mom. I had to be strong for her.

 God put Hayden in my life that day for a purpose. He was supposed to drive me home and share that story with me. God handpicked Hayden to be my angel that day. I will never forget that ride home, I will never forget Hayden. And now when I hear Neil Young on the radio, instead of cringing, I smile and remember Hayden, the loving man who comforted me in an unexplainable way on one of the worst days of my life.

I’ve helped many people on this topic, Suicide. I’ll save that for a different day.

• Who has been your angel?
• Have you been someone elses angel?
• Are you looking at these incidents as BY GOD not by Chance?
• Do you seize the moment to help others?Share your faith?

Hebrews 13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.