As he went along, he saw

Lately, in Communitas, we have been focusing on this portion of John 9:1 "as he went along, he saw...." Basically, we have been focusing on the fact that Jesus was always reaching out to people "as he went along". Rarely do his miraculous healings or supernatural provisions take place because he set out with an agenda to reach a particular destination, heal a person, move along to the next item in his planner, and provide for the needy person, etc. Rather, he goes along and he finds countless opportunities to serve others because he is always keeping his eyes open for those very opportunities!
We are trying to learn to live more like this.
Today, I believe we were able to something "as we went along."
With our small groups, we are meeting twice a month for bible study and twice a month to serve together. Once a month we have found a great fit for our group to help with the BBQ in Detroit with the homeless. But, we have been trying to remain open to God's prompting for the other group serving opportunity each month.
Timm had set up for our group to come out to Richmond today to help with some outdoor work on the school grounds. We were to meet around noon. Before that, Timm took a bike ride, and AS HE WENT ALONG, he noticed a friend, a parent from his job at RMS. She was working on a roof project with her husband. After stopping to chat with her (rather than zip by on his bike and pretend not to notice her) he learned that she and her husband were helping their good friends who are struggling with various medical and financial problems by tearing all the shingles off of their house and putting on a new roof. She went on to express that she was bummed because the volunteers hadn't shown up to help.
Hmmmm.
We changed our plans for today.
I think they were a little surprised when, a little while later, 7 adults and 5 children came filing out of vehicles with work gloves, shovels, etc. ready to help with the project.
We spent all day there, tearing down shingles, piling them in a dumpster, raking leaves, picking up nails, and meeting new people.
The couple who lives there found themselves staring at us several times throughout the day, repeating things like: "I can't believe you guys are here. I can't believe strangers are in our yard right now doing this work. This is pretty crazy!" Timm was able to share that he knows God led him to run into his friend on the bike ride, and we were happy to be able to help.
After a great day spent in the gorgeous fall outdoors (sunny and 60), we headed home. It was then that I realized something. We have plans to attend a spaghetti dinner, fundraiser, tomorrow. A friend of mine is helping to organize it and I told her we would attend. This friend of mine lives about 30 minutes away, but she said the dinner is closer to where I live, because her friend lives in my town.
When I got home, I looked up the flier and I couldn't believe it. The dinner is for the very family we met and worked with today! They never even mentioned the fundraiser that is going on tomorrow. I look forward to seeing them tomorrow and telling them how I know their good friend and had plans to come to the dinner all along! Some might say, "wow, what a coincidence" or maybe "wow, small world". I say, what a cool God we serve. As we went along, we saw... and now we have met some cool new people and hopefully we can show them a tiny glimpse of Jesus by living open handedly.