An answer to prayer - or - ...

* Terry had been on my mind for some months, and at times I felt the need to pray for him. I had thought it would be so nice to see him again, to share with him how the Lord had burdened my heart to pray for him.  Perhaps some time soon God would bring us together again.  But why would God be prompting me to pray for a school mate that I hadn't seen in many years?

In just a few weeks I would be heading off to begin my Air Force training.

~   ~   ~

I was 19 years old on this cold January evening when I had arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX for basic training.  At some point during my first week, while the hundreds of us new airman were eating lunch in one of the many dining halls on the base, I spotted a very familiar face at another table some 20 or 25 feet away.  Unfortunately, basic training rules prevented me from just getting up and walking over to this familiar fellow.  I was 95% sure that I knew who he was.  He was older, taller, but I never forget a face.  All I could do was wait and hope that I would eventually have the opportunity to speak to him.

~   ~   ~

The last time I had seen Terry was when I was in the 6th grade.  We lived in a small Southern CA town just outside of San Diego.  The 6th grade was the last grade I was in before we would change classes for each subject.  It was great.  We had one teacher and he taught us every subject, English, math, history, etc.  So the 20 or so students in his class became pretty close. friends  We all were good friends since we spent the entire day together.  Terry was one of my best friends.  We didn't live in the same neighborhood, so we didn't see each other much outside of school.

The next school year - 7th grade - I don't think I was in any classes with Terry, and my family ended up moving from Southern CA early in the school year (October) all the way across the US to the state of Maryland, where I resumed my 7th grade year.

Jump ahead a few years and we moved again, this time to Virginia, where I finished out my high school years.  

After high school I worked part time for a year or so, then decided to join the USAF.  By this time it has been about eight years since I had seen Terry and we had been living 3,000 miles apart from each other.

~   ~   ~

After the first few weeks of basic training, airman would earn some freedom - freedom to go about the base on weekends and do some shopping, see a movie, etc.  One Saturday I was walking into one of the small convenience stores on the base - and at that exact moment, Terry was walking out.  I turned around, following him down the stairs and grabbed his arm.  When he turned around I immediately saw his last name patch over his uniform coat breast pocket.  It was him.  I asked, "Are you Terry?  He looked at my last name and yelled "Bobby"!

As our free time was limited we stood and talked for some 10-12 minutes, catching up on old times.  Over the next several weeks we would see each other from time to time, at a distance, but didn't get another opportunity to talk again.

~   ~   ~

So, how could two childhood school mates who had been separated by eight years and 3,000 miles, meet up at about the midway point of the country after losing all contact with each other?  Coincidence or answered prayer?

* This entire story is true - except the very first paragraph at the top - I hadn't thought about Terry for years and certainly hadn't been praying for him. Our meeting was merely a coincidence. Two young men, former good friends, who happened to decide to join the US Air Force at about the same time.

This kind of thing happens every day, with or without prayer.

That's just life., live with it!

bob
r.u.reasonable@gmail.com