Recently I came across a letter a pastoral mentor mailed me 31 years ago. It was from Bud Palmberg, the longtime beloved pastor of the Covenant Church on Mercer Island. Even though I was serving a church in California at the time, I’d known Bud from years before when I pastored a church in Seattle as a young unmarried cleric. Every Monday on the golf course, he provided me encouragement and insight pertaining to a career I was just beginning.

In 1993, after giving leadership to the Mercer Island congregation for 26 years, Bud and his wife Donna accepted a call to the International Church in Luzern Switzerland. His letter to me described what his new parish was like. I was fascinated by what he detailed. The Palmbergs would spent the next seven years of their lives at that English-speaking church in Central Switzerland.

When I received Bud’s letter in 1993, I had no way of knowing that a dozen years later I would become the lead pastor at the Mercer Island Covenant Church where he’d served for a quarter century. Neither could I have known that I would be called to that same English-speaking church in Switzerland to serve as interim pastor. That three-month experience in Luzern was one of the highlights in my 45-year career.

Looking back I can now see how circumstances of my past set in motion a series of events that God would use to guide my steps. A friendship with Bud Palmberg that began 45 years ago would result in unanticipated blessings. But that’s not all.

Recently I admitted to a friend that my 10 years as chaplain at a local retirement community were the most fulfilling season of my ministry. And looking back I can see why. In that role I was allowed to use my unique gifts and creative abilities to live out my call. Experiences from my past had prepared me for what my job description demanded of me.

As an elementary school kid my pastor-father allowed me to tag along with him as he did visits to elderly members who were housebound. He asked me to pass out hymnbooks at the nursing home each month as he led a Sunday afternoon worship service. In college I did a research project that explored options to help vision impaired senior adults read the Bible.

When my dad went on hospice fifteen years ago, I observed intently what all was involved in caring for the dying. I had no idea that five years later I would be a chaplain helping residents on our campus pack their bags for heaven on a regular basis. The same was true with regard to my mom. As my brother and I slowly walked with her through the dark tunnel of dementia, I realized I was learning firsthand what I would need to know as a chaplain a few years later when I spent much time in our memory care wing.

But I am not the only one who can attest to the benefits of experiences and contacts earlier in our lives. If we take the time to reflect on our past, most everyone would acknowledge the same payoff. The investments of years gone by have resulted in compounded interest and dividends beyond what we could have dreamed. Opportunities and open doors we credit with the most meaningful moments in our lives did not exist in a vacuum. They likely were tied to something we did or someone we met sometime back.

And we’d best not forget that certain Someone who choreographs life’s circumstances in such a way that the connections of our past pave the way for our future. That’s why I am attracted to the words I read in the eighth chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Yes, our past experiences really do contribute to our current blessings.

Guest columnist Greg Asimakoupoulos is a former chaplain at Covenant Living at the Shores in Mercer Island.