Carl's Miracle

by Tom Pappas

I told the waitress at My Father’s Pizza that she was taking a picture of a miracle. It may not have been a miracle, but it was one of those moments that you say, “Thank you, Lord.”

We were visiting our friends Dwayne and Kathy in North Carolina after the Lumunos board meeting and it was our last day.  Our flight was at 4PM so we thought to get to Greenville SC in time, we’d have to leave at 1PM.  Our plan was to spend the morning at the Biltmore Estate and leave from there.

It turns out the Biltmore tour was more expensive than we wanted to pay for the brief time we would have. $40 each, for an hour and a half wasn’t going to happen, so we decided on a short tour of Montreat, our denomination’s magnificent conference facility.

As we drove into to Montreat, we were greeted by balloons and “Welcome to ARW” signs. I know what ARW means because I had attended the Annual Recreation Workshop 10 years earlier and learned to be a mediocre folk dance caller. 

A beloved former pastor had encouraged me to attend and I knew him to be totally enthusiastic about ARW.  I said, “I wonder if Carl is here? Bet he is.” 

After a few minutes of gawking at Lake Susan and giant rhododendrons, we decided to go over to Assembly Inn and ask if Carl was registered. 

He was! As Laurel was finding through official channels where he would be at that moment, Kathy actually ran into him near the session he was leading. (Some of us were exploring our way to the restroom.)

Carl gave us his sandwich order and we made plans to meet in nearby Black Mountain for lunch after his session.  The four of us at the table had important, tender connections in many combinations and it was a sweet time. Better than we could have planned. Miracle? Maybe so, maybe not – but clearly a really good, God moment. What fun.  

I know for sure that I don’t know if I believe that God made that happen. I do know that God was there.