Following our show at FBC Grandview, we met Taylor at a Cracker Barrel and realized that it was probably one of those God-ordained meetings. As we talked on our drive home, we were thinking about the strange set of occurrences that had to take place in order for us to meet with her and have the interaction that we did. Let me explain…

You could take it as far back as when we met our friend Annalise Bush at Yellow Rose Steakhouse while I officiated a wedding for a friend from high school that I really hadn’t connected with in many years. Through her we met Michael Kanne, and through him we met Kelsey Lewis. Kelsey came to one of our shows with Preston Cave and Michael Wilson.

Our show at FBC Grandview was coordinated by Preston Cave. During tear-down and load-out, I overheard someone playing the piano, was intrigued, and asked him what he was playing and he said he was just kind of messing around. Jokingly, I told him that I didn’t like him very much due to his immense talent.

He mentioned that his main instrument is guitar but “once you know the basics you can kind of do things.” I asked him, “you play guitar, do you also sing?” He told me that he leads worship on Wednesday nights at FBC Grandview as well as at Crestmont Baptist Church in Burleson. I asked him for his card because I wanted to get in touch with him in order for him to do fill-in worship leading at our church. He mentioned that we had actually met at a previous show – it was Michael Wilson. He mentioned that he was pretty busy doing some stuff with Kelsey, his own band Northern National, and worship leading but that he might be interested in filling in sometime. He gave me his card, we thanked everyone, and we left to drive home.

We had planned on grabbing a quick bite to eat at the local Whataburger (just to keep moving down the road), but we love Mexican food, so we thought we would try a nearby Mexican restaurant that we had never been to. While trying to find the Mexican restaurant, we saw a sign for a Cracker Barrel and thought we could enjoy one of their salads and be a little healthier with Thanksgiving coming up.

When we finally arrived, we were really hungry. We didn’t get a chance to eat before the show and it took us a little longer to find food than we had expected. We were seated at a table and told that Levi would be our server. We waited for a while and nobody came by even to ask for our drink order. Finally, another server, Taylor, came by to ask if we had been helped.

She asked about our relationship and why we were in town. We were happy to reply. After that, she opened up to us quickly and started telling us about her life and how she has had troubles with her dad and her step-mom and her mom is currently in jail for a DUI from being an alcoholic. She has been going to a church with her grandmother occasionally, but it is a bunch of old people and she is really looking for a church that has younger people closer to her age.

As we were sitting there waiting for our food, I remembered having seen a sign on the way in that we were in Burleson. I recalled that Michael’s church was in Burleson and I assumed he was also involved with the young adults ministry at his church. I texted him and he responded quickly with info about his church. He also gave other options of where she could go and that he would be happy to help her out. With his permission, we gave Taylor his phone number. We asked if we could pray for her. When Taylor brought us our food, we all held hands and prayed. We had a wonderful meal and left.

We continue to pray for Taylor and thank God for the opportunity to interact with her and hope that we were able to help direct the trajectory of her life closer to Him.

I love being able to look back and see how God has led my steps in life for these types of unexpected encounters and opportunities. I want to encourage you to LISTEN to God’s promptings in your life.  SEE where He is opening opportunities for you to follow His directions. DO what He is leading you to do, and then TELL the story of how God is using you in His plans.