Image Credit: lunchtimemama

Last month I had the opportunity to travel to Indian Wells, California and Miami, Florida for the BNP Paribas Open and the Sony Ericsson Open to co-host On the Baseline’s back-to-back live tennis coverage.

When my feet finally hit the ground back in Houston, I had spent seven days in the desert and seven days on an island, logged over 5,000 miles of car and air travel, and endured nine airline flights.

I enjoy flying, but nine flights in seventeen days were a bit much. But on the flip side, during all my travels I had an opportunity to cross paths with dozens of people from all walks of life and backgrounds.

The mom walking her baby one morning in the beautiful California sunshine turned out to be Gwen Stefani, the gentleman talking to himself next to me during our flight from Phoenix was Hollywood screenwriter Michael Schiffer (Four Feathers and Crimson Tide), and the husband and wife who kept Coconut Grove awake late one Saturday night at my hotel were none other than Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey.

Once I sat with my feet propped up on my luggage for an hour talking with a young lady about the pros and cons of nuclear energy and the Arab-Israeli peace conflict while waiting for a flight in Ontario. A few days later, I marveled at the magnificent East Coast shoreline as the plane followed the coast from Charlotte to Miami while sitting sandwiched next to a 6’5 plus giant who looked as though he belonged on the Miami Heat’s bench. This man literally had a twenty-something lady on each of his arms, but fortunately for us, he was too shy to do anything about it.

I relived fond memories from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with a mother and her young daughter on the way to Albuquerque. One of the most encouraging times during my trip was an opportunity to visit with a pastor of a church from upstate California who was on his way to a conference.

While many of these and countless other encounters could be termed coincidental, I prefer to think of them as divine appointments. Throughout my trip, the Janet Paschal song, It’s Lucky We Met, kept popping into my head as a reminder that God puts people across our paths not for chance circumstances, but for His purposes.

It’s Lucky We Met
She took the seat next to me
And then she took out a book
“Ten ways to move up in life”
Then she gave me that look.
I asked her, “What is your name?”
I asked her, “What do you do?”
She said, “I’m Mary Lynn Jones
But that’s Ms. Jones to you
I got a condo in Paris, got a house in the Keys.
I got an MBA. I got a PhD.”
And then she looked me all over, said, “So, what about you?”
And I couldn’t resist, I said,
“Well, how do you do?”

I’m just a fortunate girl,
Don’t have a thing to my name
Except a whole lot of peace and a life without shame
“I’m just a servant and slave to a wonderful man
Who came to walk on this earth
So we could all understand
Don’t claim a place as my own
Cause I’m just passing through
And I get my degree by loving people like you
And it’s no accident
Though you can’t see it yet
It’s good I ran into you
I think it’s lucky we met

I must have said something right,
Must have shattered a wall
Because she started to cry and then she started to bawl
She said, “I’ve been so lost,
Do you think we could pray?”
Then the spirit came down in a powerful way
And she asked Jesus in, then she smiled at me
And said,
“Maybe you’re right I’m beginning to see
That it wasn’t by chance that i ran into you”
She said, “You’re so amazing”
I said, “That isn’t true”

I’m just a fortunate girl,
Don’t have a thing to my name
Except a whole lot of peace and a life without shame
“I’m just a servant and slave to a wonderful man
Who came to walk on this earth
So we could all understand
Don’t claim a place as my own
Cause I’m just passing through
And I get my degree by loving people like you
And it’s no accident
Though you can’t see it yet
It’s good I ran into you
I think it’s lucky we met