Joel’s Story

My wife and I visited a friend in Houston, TX in 2023, and while we were there, I told them about a funny dream I had: A chaplain I knew from a local university waved at me from the back of a cave while my friend that I was currently visiting was Facetiming me eating chocolate chip cookies. At the time, I was telling them this story, because as soon as I woke up from that dream, the chaplain texted me. It was very weird to see the chaplain wave to me and then wake up to a text from her. As I was telling my Houston friends this, they both start laughing and the wife said "The best part is that if you sat a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of him, you're likely not to get your hand back." At the time, I had no idea that my friend had a sweet tooth for chocolate chip cookies.

Recently, my Houston friend passed away. Two days after we got the news of his passing, my wife and I were at a hotel. We had dropped the kids off at grandparents' houses, and we're getting ready to go to dinner. My wife comes out of the bathroom and says "I can't get over this... I just need a sign that he's okay, they're okay and everything will be okay. But I swear if they serve us chocolate chip cookies or have them on the dessert menu, I'm going to lose it. I know that sounds crazy, but I will."

Two minutes later, we get a knock on our door. My wife goes to answer it, and the maid doesn't say anything and hands her a bag of 2 chocolate chip cookies... She was so surprised she couldn't even speak. It was apparently a part of the hotel turndown service, but in my 38 years, I've never gotten chocolate chip cookies for turndown service. 

For the next five minutes, my wife and I just stare at each other, mesmerized by what just happened on the brink of tears. It just didn't make sense.

On the way to dinner (3 minutes later), I texted my business partner and told him what happened. By the time we rode the elevator, I received a text back of a picture of him holding a chocolate chip cookie that said, "Is it weird that my new neighbor just brought me chocolate chip cookies, and they just moved from Texas?"

I can't express what I felt at that moment, but I knew my friend was telling us that everything was going to be okay. I can't imagine what he knows, sees, and feels right now, but I believe it is something really close to what he and the Bible have always described.