When I wrote my new book He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football) about the 39-year journey with our special-needs son Peter, my primary purpose was to inspire and encourage people.  And I really wanted it to get to those who especially needed some encouragement. Recently I’ve encountered some pretty convincing evidence that that’s already happening.

My day job is being a freelance agribusiness writer. About three weeks ago, I was scheduled to attend the Global Leadership Summit at a large church in a nearby city. I’d signed up several weeks earlier, but had come to regret my decision. Not because it isn’t a great conference, but because my schedule had got really crowded. But I figured as long as I was going anyway, I might as well stop by this farm where I was doing a story, that was right on the way, and get some pictures.

I took my pictures, and as I was ready to leave, the farmer, said, “Could I talk to you a minute?” He then proceeded to tell me how his dad, a retired farmer, had seen an article in Indiana Prairie Farmer, written by editor Tom Bechman, about “this guy who wrote a book about his son with spina bifida.” To which my host said to him, “He’s the one (me) who’s coming tomorrow to take some pictures.” Then he said to me, “I’m reading your book on my iPad. We recently found out from an ultrasound that my granddaughter’s going to be born with spina bifida.”

For the better part of an hour, he told me about the specifics of his granddaughter’s situation, and asked me questions. I shared much about our experience with Peter. Then I prayed with him, and offered to help in whatever ways my wife or I could. I wound up being late to my conference, but that was OK. I’d been where I needed to be.

What are the odds?

Then the next week, I was doing another assignment about a hundred miles from home. After I interviewed this farmer, we were talking, and he shared with me that he and his wife had had a daughter who had died at age 23, after a life of serial medical challenges. He and his wife had gone to extraordinary lengths to try to help her, but in the end she lost her battle. He also had seen the article in Indiana Prairie Farmer, and knew that I too, had lost a child.

For those who have lost children, there’s a kind of fraternity—a fraternity that absolutely no one wants to be a part of. But for those who are in it, there’s an indescribable bond and comfort that comes from sharing your story and your pain with another who’s been there and who truly understands. In this case, his daughter had died years ago, but the hurt still wasn’t far below the surface. Things are never the same again.

Again, we shared experiences, and he said that he was going to buy and read the book. Again, I hope it helps, and I hope I can be of some help in the future.

And again, what are the odds?

Whether you see events of your life as coincidence or the hand of God at work is a function of your world view. In my case, to believe that the chance that these two occurrences are strictly random happenings and nothing more, those odds are too long for me.

My prayer from even before I started typing the words to the book was that it would find its way to the people who needed it. It appears that prayer’s being answered.