CHANCE?

 

Last Sunday, my wife and I were walking in the foothills of the mountains on the edge of the village where we live.  It was a glorious, sunny morning and we were really enjoying our walk.  At one point we stopped to rest, sitting on a large rock beside the trail, when a couple of other walkers came down the mountain towards where we were sitting.  We began talking to them and found that they were visiting the village for a few days from the distant city where they lived.  They were experienced hikers and were planning to spend two or three days climbing locally.

We chatted together for about thirty minutes and then they continued on their way.  We followed a short time later as we had decided to return home.  We noticed, after a while, that the other couple had branched off onto a trail leading higher up the mountain.  “They’re courageous” said my wife and I mumbled something like, “Maybe foolhardy!”  We continued our journey home thinking what a pleasant couple they were and thought no more about it until the following evening when an acquaintance mentioned that two hikers were missing in the mountains and a search was underway.  The man had been found but the woman was still missing.  From the description, we realised it must be the very couple we spoke to in the mountains the day before!

We were very concerned and prayed she would be discovered unharmed and that her husband was not injured.  Next morning, we were walking in the village when the husband drove past us.  We stopped him and asked if he was alright and had his wife been found?  It seems they realised it was late, the wife was tired and they couldn’t find their way down the mountain in the dark.  He asked his wife to wait and he would go for help. On his way down he had fallen, lost consciousness for a while and when he became aware again, he could no longer raise her on her mobile phone.  He called the emergency services and was eventually found late that night.  Someone stayed with him until dawn as it was too dangerous to bring him down in the dark from the ledge where he was. 

The searchers were still trying to find his wife, he said.  We expressed our concern, gave him our telephone number and said if he felt he needed company, he should not hesitate to visit us at home.  We first met him on Sunday morning and this was Tuesday.  That evening we heard from a friend that a body had been discovered in the mountains and of course we feared the worst.  Our fears were confirmed when, next morning, we received a text message from the husband saying his wife had fallen to her death.  We were shocked but repeated our offer for him to come to see us at home.  He eventually came to see us later in the day and he told us the rescue service was bringing his wife’s body down from the mountain around the time we were speaking.  Fortunately, some family members had driven to the village to be with him and they had agreed to identify the body; something he had been dreading he would have to do. 

We tried our best to comfort him and explained about our conviction that life was eternal and that we felt sure his wife would try her best to let him know she was still near him.  My wife explained about experiences she had when her brother, whom she loved dearly, had passed at an early age.  These concerned his name and his nickname appearing on a lorry that drove past her and the inexplicable playing of his favourite song on the radio in a restaurant.  It was played very loud and the waitress later apologised for the loudness as she hadn’t realised anyone else was present.  When my wife explained this he mentioned that, for no apparent reason, a wind chime at the hotel where he was staying rang as he was passing it.  This happened on two separate occasions since the accident and there seemed no reason why the chime should do so at those times.   He spent perhaps two hours with us, telling us about his life and going over what had happened in the mountains and then left, promising to call again next day.  He did call at our house the following morning but unfortunately we missed him.

He sent us a text message saying he had now left the village, thanked us for helping him and explained he had had further unusual things happen that convinced him his wife was close.  He said without our talk with him, he would have failed to see the significance of these.  Apparently, as he was driving away from the village having failed to see us, he switched on the car radio.  He heard just static, so pressed the search button and a station was found that immediately began to play a series of songs that were all about girls with the same name as his wife!  Even more surprising, after these songs had finished, the station played his wife’s favourite song!!

Was it chance that of all the people in our village, where they were total strangers, the couple should meet my wife and I before the accident?  Was it also coincidence that he should drive past us in the street while the search for his wife was taking place?  Was it chance that the radio should play those songs and the wind chime should ring just as he passed it, on not one but two occasions?  Was it also chance that we missed him when he called at our home which meant he was in his car able to hear the particular songs played by the radio station the search button had found?

God and the Spirit World do work in wonderful ways to help us in our moments of sadness and despair.  Tragedies unfortunately happen but it is my belief that what is about to happen is known in the spirit world and steps are taken by those there who love us, to help us cope with the consequences of the tragedy.  Our experience last week shows this in operation.