The Perfect Coincidence or God’s Plan?

I’ve seen a lot of wonderful and amazing things while volunteering with Starkey Hearing Foundation. People show enormous amounts of kindness during hearing missions, and it’s a sight to behold. It seems like we always show up at precisely the right moment to help someone in need or raise someone's spirits. One such occasion happened right here in Minnesota during the 2017 Super Bowl.

My little brother, William, was at the Kyle Rudolph Football ProCamp held at Providence Academy. All the kids were paired into groups to play football when my brother and dad noticed that a player on William’s team, Ernie, had a hearing aid. It was a large, bulky hearing aid that didn’t fit very well on his ear. My dad asked Ernie where his mom was. My mom then went over to talk to her about Ernie’s hearing aids. Ernie’s mom was so thankful to talk to someone who understood what their family was going through. Despite a blizzard outside, we decided to ask them to come to Starkey so Ernie could be fit with new technology to help him hear better, especially while playing sports. (His current hearing aids made it hard for him to wear his football helmet.)

What are the odds that of all days, the day the Starkey team was having a hearing mission right in town, that we would meet this family? We ended up taking Ernie’s whole family to the Starkey campus.

I was at Starkey helping with the mission we had set up. The team there fit Ernie with the latest, behind-the-ear hearing aids. He LOVED them! He was smiling for the rest of the day.

Not only were we able to help Ernie hear better and connect with the world around him, but we also made a special connection with his family. We all became friends and they even come over for game night every once in awhile. Ernie plays video games with my brother and his friends. They’re just the nicest family you could ever meet.

Ernie’s improved hearing has impacted more than just his social life. He is now doing better in school. It can be hard to be engaged in your education when you suffer from hearing loss, but now that he can communicate more effectively with his teachers and classmates, he’s loving life!

Some may say this was just a coincidence, but I believe it was God’s plan for my family to meet Ernie. Our days are filled with opportunities to change someone’s life for the better - sometimes on a small scale, sometimes on a larger scale like in Ernie’s situation. Either way, every opportunity we face is there for a reason. Don’t miss your opportunity to make someone's day!