A couple of days ago I found myself driving in Chicago, heading to an appointment. As I waited at a red light, a dark blue SUV turned right in front of me… with Nate at the wheel!

I gasped and felt my heart stop. His window was down, and I could see his face clearly. Craning my neck to stare as he drove past me and away, I could hardly yank myself back to reality.

Of course I knew it wasn’t him. Impossible! But my senses briefly told me otherwise. Lining up what couldn’t have been true with what was true was like trying to straighten a deck of cards lying askew. It took some effort and more than a few seconds. Horns began honking for me to respond to the green light, and I quickly stepped on the gas, but it would be a while before I regained my composure.

As kids we were told, “Wishing doesn’t make it so.” My constant wish that Nate was still with me must have been the reason I’d “seen” him driving by. It was just my mind playing tricks on me. There isn’t one hour of any day that I don’t think about him, and it’s not much of a leap to then “see” him.

Last week I heard something new about my husband, a mini-story one of his friends shared with me thinking it was “just a little thing.” But to me it was a bit of precious treasure, because Nate can no longer participate in making any new stories. Those of the past are all we have.

This friend had explained how a statement Nate made nearly two years ago had come back to him recently when he was trying to get through a tough experience. Despite Nate being gone and his comment being old, this friend had been given practical encouragement to persevere in his struggle. It brought pleasure to me to know Nate’s influence was still being felt, as if he really was still with us.

If Nate was alive and had listened to his friend tell the story, he might not even have remembered making the comment. And yet there was still power in it, and that’s the lesson for all of us. People are listening. People are watching. This is especially true when we aren’t aware of it. Of course not everything Nate said was quote-worthy. As for me, I don’t think anything I’ve said is quote-worthy. But we can all attempt to speak and act in ways that uplift others.

Today I’ve been thinking about having “seen” Nate in the SUV and also in his friend’s story. Both were a glimpse of him. I think I value the story far more than the “sighting”, thrilling that it was, because there’s an important distinction between the two. One view was fantasy, and the other was truth.

“Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” (Proverbs 23:23)