Coincidences
can be mistaken as miracles. The
universe of highly improbable events occurring together is so huge that it is
no wonder that it happens sometime.
When it doesn’t happen we don’t notice, so we miss the millions of
non-coincidences for each coincidence that we do see. Pick two important people in your life – spouse, parent,
etc. Had you noted that they (probably)
don’t have the same birthday? But if
they did have the same birthday, you would have noticed.
I once was
driving in Chicago with my two teenage sons.
We were discussing whether we wanted hamburgers or pizza for lunch. None of the three of us had strong feelings
on the matter. I stopped at a red light
and the license plate of the car in the adjacent lane was “PIZZA-3.” That settled the issue. However if the license had been "JYT-648” I
would not have noticed nor remembered and it wouldn't have affected my life.
When I was 12
(or so) I was riddled by questions and doubts concerning religion. “Was there a God?” “Why did evil exist?” “Why
weren’t my prayers answered?” One day I
was a passenger in a car as my Dad drove along a dirt road well known to us. An electrical line paralleled the road. As we neared the top of a hill, I decided to
put the existence of God to the test.
“If there is a God, a hawk will be perched on an electrical pole beyond
the hill." One could see for miles from
the top of the hill. We got to the top
of the hill and about a half mile away, a hawk was sitting atop a pole.
However, my own
test didn’t satisfy me. I knew there
were lots of hawks and poles. Future
trips along the same path showed that 4 times out of 5 there was a visible
perched hawk. I convinced myself that
you can’t test for God. That would be
too easy.
But if I have
to give an accounting at the “pearly gates,” I’ll be in deep trouble.
© 2014 Lester C. Welch
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