(SER-UH N-DIP-I-TEE) Noun. A fortunate happenstance.
(Ellie’s definition: GOD’S UNEXPECTED SURPRISES.)

Paul Gustafson

1. A number of years ago, Jim and I were traveling north on I-83 through Pennsylvania.  the map showed how close we were to Messiah College where Grandson Paul was studying. Hmm. What are the chances we could actually find him? Surely there’s a building that holds students’ secret schedules. Hmmmm. Sharp left on I-75, then south to the college. Noon on campus; students swarming. No labeled buildings. Hope fades. But wait! There he is—walking just yards from us! I get out of the car, give him a love poke, and we laugh hilariously. He’d been heading for a copy machine before his next class, and our being there just at that moment had to be a God thing.
2. Carol, our beloved church secretary had just died, with the memorial service at the church. One of her best friends in California, not having heard she had died, just happened to be on the east coast. Jeanne asked to say a few words and proceeded to regale us with hilarious stories of their adventures together. Laughter at such a time is a gift from God, turning death on its head.
   
   

   Stanton House, Stanton St. John, England

3. The last serendipity is almost too sacred to write about. Jim had a teaching sabbatical in Oxford, England, where he researched John Locke. We stayed at Stanton House, a Christian manor in the nearby village of Stanton St. John. The place, with its gracious living space and sweeping staircase—to say nothing of the massive coal stove in the kitchen giving us wonderful meals and homemade “yoggurt”—this place and its people enveloped us in love.  The supper table became an altar, and meals were bookended with prayer and worship and an extra topping of love.

 
While Jim studied in Oxford, I walked the village streets and public footpaths over styles and through cow pastures. On Palm Sunday and Easter, we worshiped in Oxford’s St. Aldates Church with its incredible organist who was deaf. Yes, really! Our time in that God-provided place impacted my life profoundly and gave me a foretaste of heaven.
Serendipity. Rare happenings, but when they come, we are made rich by the goodness of God.

Beautiful England!