Tammy and I drove to Thomasville yesterday to drop off some year end donations, including our own, for James’ foundation. We planned to make a day of it and top it off with dinner at Jonah’s Fish and Grits. We were hoping for a short wait time at Jonah’s, but when we walked in we saw our friends Doug Thompson and Danise Watson and Doug informed us it was an hour and a half wait. I went ahead and checked in and we spent the hour and a half wait visiting with Doug and Danise. We ended up sharing a table and having dinner together. We were blessed with a wonderful server named Patience, which was so appropriate after our 90-minute wait. We enjoyed a great visit with Doug and Danise, and towards the end of the night, Doug shared a few stories about old cars and I mentioned that we had sold James’ 1991 Pathfinder to Dude Thomas. Doug said he had read our recounting of that on Facebook. Doug would comment that he enjoyed reading about the various encounters that highlighted James’ story that seemingly came out of the blue. Our server came with our checks shortly afterwards, we settled up with her and prepared to leave. Danise stepped away from the table briefly, and while she was gone, a friend of Doug and Danise’s came up to the table. Doug introduced us to her, and when he introduced Tammy, the friend told Tammy, “My daughter received one of your scholarships.” She proceeded to introduce herself as Amy Smith, and said her daughter, Maggie, had graduated from Valwood in 2017 as the salutatorian and had graduated from Georgia Tech in 2021 with a degree related to computer software. She then shared that Maggie was with them. Tammy asked if we could get a picture with Maggie, so we started to move in a direction to do that. Amy’s husband, Jeff, walked up in the meantime and introduced himself. Maggie came up a few minutes later and she and Tammy began to talk. One of the key points of the application process Maggie remembered was the essay. We ask each of the applicants to read James’ words in The Clock is Ticking, words that begin with “Take time to love someone” and close with “If this just touches with one person, I will have done my job.” We ask each applicant to write about how they have made a difference in someone’s life or share how someone has made a difference in their life. Doug and Danise observed all of this just moments after Doug had mentioned the numerous apparently random occurrences related to James’ story that just happen. We took the picture with Maggie in front of Jonah’s, said our good-byes and Happy New Years, walked back to our car and talked about this encounter for the first portion of our drive back home. A trip made to Thomasville to deposit funds into the James Eunice Charity Fund which has presented over 790 scholarships in James’ name to graduating seniors since 2011, ended with an encounter with a scholarship recipient from Valdosta at a restaurant in Thomasville. What a wonderful way to close out 2023 and a wonderful reminder of how God continues to sustain a story of hope from tragedy.