Connections

My wife helped coach our friend Julie through the birth of her son, and Julie promised she would be there to help coach my wife a few months later when our baby was due. One of Julie’s favorite phrases is the exclamation “Holy Buckets!” as in “Holy buckets, it’s cold outside.” With three kids of her own, she uses the phrase liberally when she could be saying something much, much stronger and more colorful.


When our daughter arrived abruptly and unexpectedly six weeks early, we rushed to the nearest neonatal intensive care unit, an hour and a half drive away. Within the first 30 minutes of our tiny daughter’s new life, as the nurse and I were looking at her in her little incubator, the nurse said “Holy buckets is she doing good.”

And just like that, Julie was there, just as she had promised. During a very tense, emotional time, it put me at ease for a moment because up popped an unexpected, yet very much welcome, connection to a friend.

Simple reminders of other people in our lives, both past and present, are popping up all the time, if you notice. Certain songs. Particular movies. Uttered phrases. Unearthed pictures. And it never seems to be just one isolated reminder. After the initial trigger, typically other reminders cascade one after the other after the other. Then after recognizing these reminders, don’t you always get a surprise call from that person or meet them, seemingly by chance, in line at the store? “Hey! I’ve been thinking of you lately.” The reminders seem like some pretty strong coincidences.

So what is going on?

We all share a common connection, and his name is Jesus. He’s in all of us, and through Him we are all connected. He said “You are in me, and I am in you” (John 12:26). So when the thoughts of someone start popping into your head, who do you think is putting them there? Jesus reminds you of a particular person at a particular time for a reason. His reason. Whatever that may be.

So reach out. Call them. Pray for them. And, holy buckets, remember He might be reminding them of you someday, just when He knows you need the help too.