Nigel Alston experiences a 'Godwink'

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"What a morning," Sarah said as we entered the house. "Yes, it was," I responded. We had just experienced a "Godwink."

Several years ago, by coincidence (or was it?) I picked up a book by Squire Rushnell, "When God Winks." According to Rushnell, "there is a powerful correlation between wishes and winks, because when your wish comes true or your prayer is answered, it sometimes comes in the form of a coincidence — a wink from God."

For one family last Sunday, God winked. To some, it might look like a coincidence, but ... I know God winked. And, I am thankful that my wife and I were part of it. I know the family is because I saw it on their faces — a visible sign of relief.

Our activity this Sunday was a departure from our usual routine to attend church, meet to eat out, return home and then whatever activity follows. We didn't know that we would have the opportunity to reunite a family.

So, what is a Godwink? Here is how Rushnell explains it: A Godwink is what some people would call a coincidence, an answered prayer, or simply an experience where you'd say, "Wow, what are the odds of that!"

That's what I said as I embraced a former classmate at the police station early Sunday morning. He had tears of joy in his eyes at that moment.

But to back up for a minute, it had been a long time since my wife and I traveled to Hillbilly Hide-A-Way in Stokes County to eat breakfast. Returning home, we made a detour that put us on the path to make a difference — God winked. I was showing Sarah the location of a church she needed to find to attend a funeral later in the week. After doing so, we noticed an elderly woman sitting on the sidewalk near the fairground. She was getting up off the ground, picking up her bag of clothes — stumbling somewhat.

We turned around, stopped and asked if she was OK. She was tired and disoriented. "Do you need a ride?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, I would like that," she responded. That would prove to be a challenge, as she couldn't tell us specifically where she lived.

"I live on Cleveland," she said. "Thirteen ... something, across the street from Cleveland Avenue church." That helped, as I know the area.

"You live in Colony Place?" I asked. She couldn't say, but she knew it was in front of the church, "on the front side." After riding through the complex, we asked a resident if he knew her, and the pieces of the puzzle came together. She had walked out of a senior living home very early in the morning trying to get back home, having recently moved.

She knew her name. She was hungry, which she attributed to her reason for being weak, and planned to cook something when she got home. After a call to 911, we met the police at the station and found out she had been reported missing. They had been looking for her for several hours now. Her son feared she would be in a ditch somewhere.

That's when I realized we had experienced a Godwink. When the family arrived at the police station, I knew them. "Wow, what a coincidence," I said to myself. What are the odds we would pick up the mother of a friend who had wondered a long way from home? She is suffering from dementia.

Mrs. Crawford is a beautiful woman. She was thankful we picked her up and didn't want my wife to get out of the front seat so she could get in the car. She told Sarah not to let anyone sit beside her husband; yet, she reluctantly did so. I smile as I think about that.

And, she is feisty. After the reunion with her family, she let everyone know she was in charge. We laughed a little at her show of authority. We hugged, wished her and the family well and departed.

"This is what we were supposed to do today," Sarah said as we drove home, the emotion showing in her eyes now.

I agree with Rushnell when he says that "the best thing about Godwinks is that they are tangible signposts along our way, giving us hope, replacing uncertainty with a genuine feeling of certainty that everything is going to be okay."

God winked on Sunday, and a wish and a prayer were answered.