Was That a COINCIDENCE or What!: Signposts from a Friendly Universe (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781530284832)

For the first 25 years of his life, the Reverend Dr. David Crippen did not realize the Universe was sending him messages. Then, an amazing synchronicity awakened him and changed his life forever. Could the Universe really be communicating with him?

He discovered that Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, had coined the term "synchronicity" to refer to an unexplained, meaningful coincidence, and that such an event can serve as guidance, affirmation, inspiration, or simply to remind us that God has a sense of humor.

David and his wife, Karen, began following the synchronicities until they became a guiding force in their lives; leading them and their young family to exotic lands, where David served as Curriculum Developer for the public schools in Kenya, Director of Refugee Relief and Development for Food for the Hungry International in Thailand, and Medical Director for refugee camps in Somalia for World Concern International.

As the synchronicities unfolded, David realized he was being led to enter the priesthood. Following ordination as an Episcopal priest, he established a group home for people with severe physical disabilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee and has served churches in Tennessee, Alabama, and Colorado for nearly 30 years.

Crippen's book for children, "Two Sides of the River," has been widely used in schools throughout the U.S. as a tool to teach children how to make peace with those whom they perceive as their enemies.

He lives off the grid halfway up a mountain in Colorado with Karen; adult daughter, Bekki; three beloved Collies and Two Standard Poodles, all of whom are Certified Therapy Dogs; and a Norwegian Fjord Horse, Otis.

David holds five college and university degrees, but affirms that the synchronicities in his life have strengthened his faith far more than all his formal education. He believes that these unexplained, meaningful coincidences are one of God's primary ways of communicating with us-God's Beloved. They arrive in the lives of all of us, sometimes so complex and so astonishingly personalized that we know they could not have happened by chance.

That, then, is the time to wake up, pay attention, and become aware that underneath the surface of our daily lives is another reality, a spiritual realm, where guidance is being offered to help us on our way.