Monday, September 01, 2008

A "Coincidence" ...

This weekend a friend invited me over to watch a "Boys" film filled with gratitous violence, shooting and general mayhem ... both of our lives have been in flux and transition lately with job changes, relocation and other assorted things that seem to happen ... So, I happily accepted and headed off on Saturday night to have a couple of beer, some pizza and just crash out and enjoy a movie ...

Along the way he showed me the renos he's been doing and undertaking in the new house he and his family bought ... in the living room I noticed a pile of books on the piano ... as a bibliophile I NOTICE books ... at the bottom of one of the stacks was the book "The Social Passion: Religion and Social Reform in Canada: 1914-1928.

I was awe-struck. That book had popped up on my list of "need to read" items as I've begun reading and researching my LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG awaited thesis for Rural Development.

"May I borrow that?" I asked pointing at the book.

"No," came the reply.

"NO?" I said somewhat stunned, I have borrowed books from him in the past and have ALWAYS returned them, perhaps not in the most timely of fashions, but they they have been returned eventually, "What do you mean 'no'? You seriously are not going to let me borrow the book ?"

"No, you can't borrow the book," he said smiling slightly, "you can take the damned thing, that's my discard pile of books I'm getting rid of ..."

He then pulled it out of the pile and handed it to me with the invitation to take any others in the stack that might interest me. I thanked him and said that Allen's book would suffice, and explained it was on my "to read" list for my thesis ...

Clearly, the call to come over for pizza and a movie was no coincidence ... the Cosmos (God) was at work on many levels ... and one of them was resourcing my thesis ...

... hmmm, come to think of it, I may spend some time this morning reading.

.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

DUDE!
Did you know that the author,Richard Allen was our NDP MPP for my Hamilton riding growing up. He was a History Professor at MAC and a faithful UCC member?....good friends with Douglas Hall..they were Student Christian Movement pals.
I used that book for my undergrad thesis on social history. It does rock!
Wendy