I found a clipboard in the workroom at church. I used it for a project then stuck it in my drawer–and that’s when I noticed the bumper sticker on the back.

God only knows Neighborhood Cafe 1

When they were “Coming Alive in 85,” I was a 16-year-old rebel running as far and as fast from God as my still-svelt legs could carry me. I worked at a little office supply store on Main Street, where my love of pens and file folders and downtown was born. It was called Lancaster Office Supply, where one day in 1985 a pastor walked in the door and bought a sturdy brown clipboard for his church.

God only knows Neighborhood Cafe 2

There’s a good chance my 16-year-old self put the price tag on that clipboard. I bet God chuckled when I loaded the price gun and changed the numbers to one-point-seven-five, knowing He would place that clipboard back in my hands nearly 30 years later. As my thumb pressed the sticker firmly on the back of that brand new clipboard, He saw my entire life flash before His eyes–He saw my heart hardening, my rejection of Him, and my eventual return. He foresaw the long and winding road that would lead me back to Him, to His church, to His people.

God only knows my past, my present and my future.

Each day He arranges chance encounters, seemingly random moments, and mundane tasks that will one day tell the complete story of our lives. I’m thankful for the people He used to influence my life, for their prayers and their testimony and their example. And I wonder how He is using me in the lives of others who are waiting for their own clipboard-moment, a sure sign of His ever-present involvement and unfailing love.

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