February 27, 2018

God shows himself in mysterious ways…

A good editor is the key to making sure whatever is written reads right and, well, doesn’t make ridiculous mistakes. In late February 1997 an American Family Publisher’s Sweepstakes entry was received by the Bushnell Assembly of God Church. It began thus:

“God, we’ve been searching for you”

Apparently when dealing with the topic of God the Infallible Wikipedia is silent. Therefore, I share this brief clip from the Spokesman Review:

“If God were to win, the letter stated, ‘What an incredible fortune there would be for God! Could you imagine the looks you’d get from your neighbors? But don’t just sit there, God.’

Sweepstakes officials did not return several telephone calls for comment Thursday.

(Pastor Bill) Brack said his 140-person congregation is considering whether to mail in the entry. The church could use the money.

And if American Family chooses a different winner?

‘God would be disappointed,’ Brack joked.”

This story reminded me of something similar which I experienced a couple of years ago. I make frequent trips from Seattle to Yakima to help with my 94 year old father. I have a 10 year old Garmin GPS which I like to turn on and use to give me approximate arrival times, elevation, etc.

One day as I was headed back home I stopped at the westbound Indian John rest area and, since I hadn’t yet sent my husband an update as to my estimated arrival time (ETA) I tapped out a quick text message as I was about to continue west. It wasn’t until I received his reply that I realized autocorrect on my phone had done this:

“God says I’ll be home at 4:30”

Apparently the terminology “GPS” didn’t exist in my phone and switched it to the word “God” instead.

I believe I got back a reply something to the effect of “its good God knows when you’re getting home.”

Ever since then when I send messages about my ETA I type in “God” and refer to the GPS as “God.” I do get strange looks from time to time. The way I see it is that it’s good to have God giving me travel advice.

If I had any doubt that my GPS truly was God my disbelief was dispelled about a year and half ago. I was on my way back from Yakima and was driving up I-82 towards Ellensburg. I glanced over at the GPS but what I saw left no doubt that some higher power was in charge. Instead of an elevation of about 2700 feet as expected “God” let me know I was at over… 50,000 feet! As Doc Brown says in Back To The Future “Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need… roads!” Although the photo I snapped was a bit fuzzy, you can clearly see the elevation and God’s instruction that I am to continue to the alley. What alley, I never did find out. This craziness continued until Thorp when, apparently, I was no longer flying and once again on solid pavement.

To read the entire article on God perhaps winning the sweepstakes, here’s the link: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/feb/28/god-you-may-have-won-11-million-sweepstakes/

And, of course, the original movie trailer from the 1977 George Burns and John Denver flick “Oh, God.”