Autumn Song

I suppose I could start off with the proverbial, “It’s a small world after all.” But honestly, I think there’s more to the story.

In some respects, it is a small world. After all, earth is the 4th smallest planet in our solar system, making it surprisingly possible for us to fly out of Nashville and land in Rome within less than a day. Small world!

And yet at the same time, there’s a staggering 8.3 billion people that live on our planet– not a very “small world” at all! With this in mind, the “coincidences” that we often attribute to our living in a small world aren’t really coincidences at all. They’re so much bigger than that. They’re “divine providences.”

So it was that this story began on a beautiful late spring evening in our remote little town of Citta della Pieve in Italy. Dan and I were enjoying dinner and conversation with friends at one of the many lovely restaurants, Bistrot del Duca, in our Italian town. Meanwhile, at a table close beside us, a young couple was also enjoying their dinner. The husband looked so obviously Italian that, of course, we assumed they were local– and since we couldn’t speak Italian well enough to converse with them, we didn’t.

Near the end of the long evening, however, the young wife said something to Dan in English, and we were stunned to realize they weren’t local after all. They were Americans enjoying a special trip to Italy to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

“Where are you folks from?” Dan asked.
“Tennessee,” she answered, to our stunned surprise.
“We’re from Tennessee too!”
“We’re from Nashville,” she clarified.
“We’re from Nashville too,’ Dan said, honing in a little more closely to where we lived, as we sat incredulous at the coincidence.
“Actually we’re from Thompson Station,” she specified… a small town less than 20 minutes away from our home in Tennessee!

Dan exchanged information with them, and we made promises to get together for dinner when we got back to our home in Tennessee.

We still knew virtually nothing about each other, but in the months that followed, she read some of the articles in my blog, trying to find out a little bit about us, and through it, realized that we are Christians, as they are too. Consequently, when we did get together for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Tennessee, our fellowship from the very start was far beyond just acquaintances. Clearly, we were “family.”

But the story doesn’t end there.

When we returned to Italy the following fall, Dan was in our little town one afternoon visiting with an Italian friend of his when he noticed a couple walking by, talking to each other in English. Our town is not a characteristic tourist town, though we frequently come across tourists. So Dan greeted the couple, welcomed them to our town and asked where they were from.

“We’re from Tennessee,” they replied.
“I’m from Tennessee!” Dan responded.
“We’re from Nashville,” they continued.
“I’m from Nashville!” Dan said.
“Actually, we’re from Franklin,” they specified… a town 20 minutes away from our home in Tennessee.

During that short introductory conversation, Dan mentioned that we would be going to our Wednesday evening service at our Italian church, and invited them along. Much to our surprise, they eagerly came with us and from that very start, we enjoyed shared fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

As it turned out–incredibly– this second couple were travel agents that had arranged the trip for the couple we’d met the previous spring, though ironically, they had never met apart from talking on the phone.

Since that time, we’ve met with these couples, as well as the owner of the travel agency “Italy With Bella”–also a Christian– in Tennessee for food, fellowship, church, and much great discussion. We’ve networked together regarding travel, Italy, work, as well as church and theology. Dan and I have been incredibly blessed with these friendships, and are honestly amazed at how stories like these come to be.

I have to admit, it’s a small world. It really is. And yet it isn’t. It’s a very big world that God Himself created, and I will forever be amazed by the divine providences that He puts in our path as we make our way through it.