Incredible Coincidences And… Squirrels Part I
The world, as we all know, is a very strange place. Sometimes things happen that are so incredible it seems impossible to believe that some ‘higher power’ hasn’t had a hand in events. One person who has written to me with details of their extraordinary coincidences is Peter Murrell from Islington:
“On 7th July 2005, I was getting ready for work when I was delayed by a squirrel. Yes, a squirrel. It had jumped down to my front basement area and had started chewing on the coal cellar’s wooden doors. This has never happened before and it delayed me by about five minutes.
After managing to shoo it away, I ran to the tube station (Angel), changed at Kings Cross for the Circle Line, and hurried to the ticket barrier as my train was there. But as I was to put my ticket through a man pushed in front of me and his ticket came up as ‘seek assistance’. I was delayed once more.
Eventually I got through the barrier, much annoyed as I had missed my train. I managed to get on the following train but when it pulled into Baker Street there was an announcement that there was an electrical surge causing delays.
As you know, it turned out the trains were bombed. A colleague who I worked with in Kensington had been on the train that I had missed and, unfortunately, he subsequently died as a result of the blast. I know a few other members of staff who were also on that tube today still receive counselling.
I believe God was watching over me that day even though His methods may seem, to our finite minds, unorthodox. As Isaiah put it:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways”.
Penelope Hopwood, our well-travelled friend from Putney, who starred in the earlier post, Sun, Sea and Sacrifice has also had her share of incredible coincidences, including the one below:
“Whilst working on Broadway in Manhattan I was handed a pile of telephone books and, as a research project, was asked to randomly pick out 500 names of individuals in the Buffalo area of New York State. How boring is that! So, I set to… After a few minutes, my eye came to rest on the name of Perry Oliver Hanson III. Believe it or not, Perry had been my first boyfriend in Uganda (I was 13 and he 16). Perry’s father worked for UNICEF and we had lost touch once he returned to the U.S. So, ten years later I rediscovered him by pure chance. I immediately wrote to him and received an enthusiastic reply. It turned out he was a Professor of Geography at the University in Buffalo. Alas, we never did meet again – it was just too complicated. I often wonder what would have happened had we done so. Perhaps it was mere synchronicity or a meaningful coincidence as per Jung….who is the man who knows!”
Thanks to Peter and Penelope for sharing their experiences. I have received a few more incredible coincidences, so please keep an eye out for Part II. I can’t guarantee there will be any squirrels in Part II though, sorry.
Nicola
©Nicola Kirk and http://www.nicolakirk.wordpress.com 2010
Creating Weirdness On A Daily Basis... 