Small World...Big God

Every once in a while you have those moments that make you feel like the world is as small as your home town. Those times usually involve seeing someone from your home town in a rather far away place. This is what Leslie and I just experienced.

My parents live about an hour north of us in Arlington, WA, so when we want a quick get-together, we usually meet in the middle. The middle is often the area around Alderwood Mall, which is just north of Seattle. My parents were out of town when we celebrated Joshua's birthday, so we called one of our get-togethers. We met at Cold Stone Creamery - we'll use any excuse we can find to do that, in Alderwood Mall. Afterward, we decided hit the mall for a bit of shopping. The first store we ventured into was the Disney Store. Now this is a huge mall and the Disney Store itself was good sized. While wandering around after my younger boys, I heard, "Well, if it isn't Dean Kuest." Now I know very few people in Washington and even fewer who would be at Alderwood Mall. I looked up to see Pam Melton, who was heavily involved in our youth ministry back in the early to mid ninety's.

She has been in Washington for about three years. She came out when her oldest daughter graduated from Seattle Pacific University, got married and stayed in the area. The odds of running into someone from our past up here like that are so astronomical that Leslie and I are convinced that God was at the center of it.

Please say a prayer for Pam. She just finished six months of chemotherapy as she is being treated for Hodgkins Disease. This is generally a curable form of cancer, but her's reached stage four before it was discovered. She is in remission at the moment, but will not be considered "cancer free" until after five years.