Year-End Strangeness

OK, if Christmas got a little bit weird, and it really did after my previous post, this morning was a bit strange.

Background first. I lost my office ID tag last Sunday and with it, a nice little lanyard with the word 'Philippines' on the strap plus two little boxing gloves with the flag painted on it, a 2 GB thumb drive, the key to my desk drawer, and a pin I got for a certification I received recently. I didn't know where I lost it exactly but my best guess had been at the train to the city. I called up the management of the train line and told them them the exact train I took for them to check. They called me up a day after and said they couldn't find it in any of their trains.

At that point, I accepted the fact that I really lost it and had to pay a good amount to have it replaced.

Fastforward to this morning, exactly a week after I lost it. I wanted to hear mass at this church in the city and I took the 9:00 AM bus, just like I always do. For some reason though, we arrived in the city a full hour before the mass was supposed to start so my friends and I decided to kill some time and go to another church instead.

Here's where the strangeness starts.

After the communion rites, when everyone else is just waiting for the priest to end the mass, a message pops up in the screen:

"Mr. Ben-Ariel Miguel Cabigas, please see Ms. Maggie of the Hospitality Ministry after the Mass."

My mind shifted from surprise (obviously), to denial (was it really my name there?), curiosity (what the heck is this all about? Who is Maggie?), and even fear (who knew that I was at church and how did he / she know my complete name?) in less than ten seconds.

As the priest was ending the mass, my theory was that all this is about my ID tag because that would have been the only way a stranger would know about my complete name. I looked for the lady and I was glad, relieved really, to know that I was right. She did have my ID tag and returned it to me.

I asked her when and where she found it and how she knew I was at the church at that time to have my name broadcast at the projector because, duh, I lost the ID a week ago. Strangely enough, she told us that she only found my ID that morning near the altar and she felt it was something important enough to actually broadcast in the screen. Strange!

I offered to buy her lunch but she, of course, declined and I said my thank you and our goodbyes.

Weird. But today is an example of those 'fate' things.

Because had I not arrived at the city an hour too early, I would not have decided to go to that particular church where the lady found my ID on that same day even if I had lost it a week earlier, and would not have seen my name on that projector, and get my ID back.

God works in mysterious ways. And I love it. Happy New Year!