Stepping on Acorns in the Street

     Guess you could say I don't believe in coincidences.  Well, yeah, you can say that because I don't.  And I'm realizing that more and more myself.
     This afternoon I was taking a walk.  Apparently there are a lot of oak trees in our neighborhood and I never realized it til today when I was feeling like a kid and enjoying stepping on acorns in the street.  That crunch was just too much fun to resist!  And I'm old enough now that I don't really care what people are thinking while I walk down the street stepping on acorns and smiling. 
     How does stepping on acorns in the street relate to me not believing in coincidence?  Well God told me a couple of things while I was enjoying my trek today and He used those acorns to do it.  It was no accident.  First, seed.  Acorns are seeds that fall from the oak tree.  Like the parable Jesus told in Luke 8, I started thinking about sowing seed.  The seed, in the parable, is the Word.   
     Earlier today I was present for the seed being sown in a place I normally am not in attendance.  But because of my disbelief in coincidence and that I knew God was telling me to be there, I went.  I observed hungry hearts.  Hearts belonging to bodies that couldn't take care of themselves any longer.  Minds that weren't as sharp as they once were but who wanted to hear the Word.  As I watched one of these individuals repeatedly take out his false teeth and another hold up her stuffed animal and proclaim it her baby, I also saw sweet souls who hungered to be there.  They didn't care who brought the Word.  They didn't care if they were in a fancy building or if there was an elaborate sound system, wi-fi or fru-fru coffee available.  They just knew they wanted the seed, the Word, sown in their hearts. 
     How many times do we overlook people?  People who are really hungry for the Word.  People who have lived their lives for the Lord like the ones I observed today.  They have experienced Psalm 34 "O taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him" and they want more!  And how about people who have never know Him but they want to know Him? People who are ready to receive the seed, the Word, in their hearts and lives.  So many hungry people.  Really hungry people who long to have the Word sown in their hearts.
     As I continued my walk and stepping on more acorns in the street and thinking of people longing for the seed, the Word,  "On a hill far away stood and old Rugged Cross" started playing through my mind.  Coincidence?  Awwww.....we know better.  Remember I was stepping on acorns.  Seeds for trees.  Now I'm not saying that the Cross was made of oak because I'm pretty sure it wasn't.  But there were seeds that fell or were planted in good soil.  That seed grew into strong trees.  Those strong trees were cut down.  Someone worked hard to turn that wood into a cross.  The Cross.  The Cross where my Savior died for my sins.  He didn't have to.  He chose to.  God knew when (actually before) those seeds were planted that those seeds would grow into the trees that would become a cross.  The Cross. 
     Me stepping on acorns in the street.  Those seeds won't become anything.  At least not something that will grow.  But this time God even used those seeds that fell in the street to remind me of His love for us.  A seed was planted.  It grew into a tree.  It became The Cross that was the instrument used to humiliate Jesus for me.  To kill Jesus for me.  And for you.  Do you know Him?  Would you like to?  He's still sowing seeds today.  And The Cross is not the end of the story.  Praise God!