Coincidence has been defined as: "A remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection." But enough of them and we start to think: "something or someone is involved here. It is only after looking back on my life that I could see what I once thought were a lot of really just neat coincidences were actually encounters with God or small miracles. Do these miracles happen to everyone? I thinks so. In the Bible we read that "...in Him (God) we live and move and have our being"-Acts 17:28 NIV. The problem is that too many of us never see these encounters with God as anything more than just wonderful little coincidences.

An alternate possibility: I compare coincidences to what lawyer's call "circumstantial evidence." A good trial lawyer will say that you can build an airtight case on circumstantial evidence. Of course, it takes a lot of it. I submit that our lives are full of "coincidences" or "circumstantial evidence" that God is and that He is at work in and around us. These coincidences are His call for us to see Him and trust Him. Earl was born and reared in the wonderful little town of Vandalia, Missouri. Here he met and married a "farm girl," Pat Robison, to whom he has been very happily married for sixty-two years. He has been blessed with three children and six grandchildren. Earl holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Central Christian College, Moberly, Missouri, a Master of Arts in Human Relations Services and Counseling from Governor's State University, University Park, Illinois and a Doctorate in Ministry from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. Earl served as pastor of the Farber Christian Church in Farber, Missouri and was the founding pastor of the Deer Creek Christian Church, University Park, Illinois where he served for over thirty-seven years. Since then he has. mentored young pastors and taught a few graduate level classes. For the past 17 years he has served as teaching pastor under his sons David and Jonathan at the Carillon location of Community Christian Church in Naperville, Illinois. For fun, he and Pat love fishing, playing golf and traveling.