A chimp, a monkey, and a gorilla all showed up at our staff meeting this morning.

Here’s what happened (times are approximate):

At 10:12, we were talking about Mailchimp, the program I use to send this devotion out to my congregation each week.

At 10:25, someone shared that we purchased a subscription to a service called Survey Monkey, which our staff will use to send out surveys, and help people register for events.

And then, at 11:19, our youth director came in from down the hall where she’s organizing a youth mission project. She was holding a bottle.

It was Gorilla glue.

Okay, isn’t that weird?

Gorillas and Monkeys and Chimps.  Oh my!

This means something.  Surely.

Well, I did some research and discovered that apes are in the Bible.  Did you know that?

The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons. –1 Kings 10:22 (NIV)

“Apes and baboons” (which may also refer to Monkeys) were among the prized treasures King Solomon had shipped in from distant lands.

Hmm.  Is God telling us to ship in a baboon as our church mascot?

Or should we collect a special offering to Jane Goodall’s institute?

Did you know we have 98-99% of our DNA in common with certain primates? Maybe we should try to teach Bible sign language to some gorillas?

Or…maybe not.

You know, not every coincidence is a sign from God.  Not every confluence of events is a herald of great portence.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love primates.

I give primates two big opposable thumbs up!

But today we had a great staff meeting,

getting ready for a busy time of year,

and as cool a coincidence as this potential side-track was,

God wanted us to focus on the task at hand,

instead of the Monkey Business.

Have a great week,

Mitch