Daily Devotion by by Kristin Kalsem

“This will be a sign for you:  you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”   Luke 2:12

Did you know that Cincinnati has an entire museum devoted to signs? The American Sign Museum includes fascinating exhibits that trace over a hundred years of sign history and present commercial sign making as its own unique art form. At this museum, you can learn fun facts about Frisch’s Big Boy, see the evolution of Goodyear Tires’ iconic Wingfoot logo, chuckle at a vintage collectable sign of dancing beer mugs, and wander down a 1950s Main Street with representative signs of the times for McDonalds, Howard Johnson’s--and most meaningful to me--Ingersoll Radio & TV.

I first learned about the sign museum when I received a message on Facebook from a woman I didn’t know. She currently lives in Indianapolis but had grown up in my hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. She explained that her family recently had visited Cincinnati and toured the American Sign Museum. She had seen the Ingersoll Radio & TV sign and wondered if it had been a business on Ingersoll Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Des Moines. The museum curator knew little about the sign but could confirm that it had been purchased on eBay from a seller in Des Moines. After diligent sleuthing, she discovered that this sign was from my father’s business that had been located in a building that she had inherited from her father (who had purchased the building from my dad). Are you following all of this--because it really is a pretty remarkable coincidence? Or is it?

One of the most impactful discussions I remember having with my Good Shepherd Renewal team was one in which we decided that we should be acknowledging coincidences as “God moments,” times when God was speaking to us and being present in our everyday lives. When they happen, we should stop and consider what they might mean, what God might be saying or encouraging.

I believe God literally sent me this sign. Here are some messages I have discerned from it: (1) appreciate the kindness of this stranger who took the time and effort necessary to track me down and let me know that my dad’s sign was now with me in Cincinnati; (2) feel anew the pride I have in my dad that he started his own business when he was nineteen years old and be grateful that he and my mom taught me the importance of doing what you love (for my dad--actually building radios and TVs; for my mom--teaching and later surrounding herself with books as a librarian); (3) take my two boys to experience the joy I felt when I saw Dad’s sign on display--which I did over the Thanksgiving holiday; and (4) share old photos of my parents and grandparents during this time period and pass along their stories to my boys--which was especially meaningful after our visit to those bygone days at the American Sign Museum. These are just a few of the gifts that God has given me with this particular sign.

During the Christmas season, we are reminded of the sign that God sent to the shepherds in the fields of his most wondrous gift of all--“to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:11. What signs, big and small, might God be sending into your everyday life?