Not a Coincidence
True story (Told by a ‘brother’)
As I crossed the African country’s border, I looked down towards the squash colored sand and noticed that the sun was perfectly overhead and perpendicular to the sand I stood upon. I took this into consideration, knowing that the call for prayer would be heard soon, and continued walking since my hosts would soon be expecting me and I was running quite late. This country was no different than the one I had just walked out of, and yet, I was feeling the immense feeling of excitement in my stomach because I was one country closer to to visiting all 195 countries in the world.
After ten days of tremendous lunches and dinners, I began my way back to the country I had come from since I was to catch a flight from there to my home country Zimbabwe. The host courteously drove me to the border and we said our goodbyes.
Since there was no serious checking done on me when I first crossed the border, I imagined there would be no checking done on me during this crossing either. I waved to the same familiar-faced security guard and walked towards the the border crossing. Surprisingly though, he stopped me and said he’d need to see my Visa before I could cross. I looked at him, baffled. With a sense of urgency, I looked at my cell phone, and then told him that I’d just cross this border 10 days ago and no one told me that I needed a visa to exit or enter the country. He smiled and told me that the government had just passed a new law in the previous two days and it required me to carry a Visa when crossing the border in either direction. Once again, I looked at him, baffled. He began to say something sympathetic when he suddenly looked down at his watch, told me that it was time for prayer and that it was Friday so we especially couldn’t talk for any longer.
There was a small mosque near the border and many people from various directions came towards the welcoming entrance. I sat down inside, and beside me, a well dressed man sat down. He greeted me with a smile and a handshake, and I did the same back. The topic for today’s sermon was about people in desperate need. The man beside me, as well as I, listened attentively, and a few dozen minutes later we finished our prayer and I walked back towards the border office, creating a plan B in the back of mind. When the man came back, I asked him whether there was anything I could do at the moment to help me cross the border, and I told him how important it was that I catch this flight. He said that all I could do was hope that the boss was in his office, and try and describe my situation to him.
I tried my luck and walked towards the office door. When I knocked twice and walked in, surely enough, it was the same man who sat beside me in the mosque during the sermon. Uncontrollably, I smiled and sat down in the chair opposite to him. I told him of my situation, and after some time he replied back.
“You are right…”
“Yes, sir.”
“I guess I could help you.”
“Please, sir.”
I could tell that the sermon lecture was playing back in his mind. I smiled at the thought of this
“Alright, but just know that it is God who is helping you, the help is just going through me.”
“Thank you so much”
I handed him my passport and he wrote a one-time note on it, this allowed me to enter back into the country, and catch my flight in the nick of time.
“And that, my brother, is not a coincidence.”
