An agnostic columnist for the Chicago Tribune had a shocking experience and people are comparing it to the popular TV show God Friended Me.
Jerry Davich for the Chicago Tribune shared the confounding moment when the word “God” appeared on his phone as he picked it up in a hospital bathroom with his readers and social media followers.
In an article titled “‘God' text befuddles this agnostic,” Davich recalls that he was standing in a hospital restroom, updating his fiancée via text about a loved one’s condition who been brought in for emergency surgery, when his phone slipped out of his hand.
Frustrated and worried that his screen may have cracked in the fall, Davich quickly flipped his phone over to look at the screen and when he did, he noticed a text, which he had not typed or spoken, was sent to his fiancée. Sprawled across his phone screen in a blue text bubble was “God.”
While visiting a loved one at a hospital who had just received successful surgery, I left her room to use the bathroom. At the sink, my phone slipped out of my hand. When I picked it up, one word on a text message appeared.
— Jerry Davich (@jdavich) January 11, 2019
“God”
I don’t know how it got there. I don’t know why. pic.twitter.com/rw9YHzMRiV
Davich said he was shocked to see God’s name on his screen. He wrote, “I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself for a few seconds, quietly dumbfounded. Then I looked around to see if anyone was watching me. Nope. I was alone. Or was I?” he asked.
Davich said that after the text went through to his fiancée, she texted him back with the praying hands emoji, so he quickly replied, telling her about what had happened.
Davich said both of them were surprised by the encounter. He wrote, “I’m a reborn agnostic after living my teenage years as a cynical atheist. These sorts of ‘God winks,’ as they’re called by believers, only happen to those people who are looking for them, I always believed.”
The self-described “reborn agnostic” then decided to share the experience with his readers and many of them pointed out the uncanny similarity of his experience to the show God Friended Me. The CBS show tells the story of an outspoken atheist who gets a friend request on Facebook from “God” and sets out to find out who is behind the “God account.”
One person commented on the article telling Davich that this was a clear sign from God.
They wrote, “God is calling you, Jerry. What are you going to do? Answer or ignore???”
Another wrote, “He's just lettin' ya know that He's right there with you … always.”
The columnist told the Christian Post that he’s always been open to the possibility of God existing and while this did not make him a believer, there was certainly something mysterious about it. He told the outlet, “I’ve been open to the possibility of God’s existence since my teenage years. Still waiting for a credible sign, though every Christian I know keeps telling me I’ve been receiving signs for decades(!!).”
Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Tyler Lastovich
