The Way They Should

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In Sunday School this week, I brought up Jonah as an example, and I've been thinking about him a lot ever since. Jonah has the distinct dishonour of being the most renowned reluctant prophet in scripture. He illustrates the notion that no matter how hard we try to mess up things, what should be usually turns out for the best. When you think about all the things that must come together sometimes for things to work out, the mathematical odds of that happening, and the number of things that could screw up the outcome you see, you stop believing in coincidence.

Jonah overcomes the odds both to preach to the people of Ninevah as well as to still maintain God's favor. When God commands him to call repentance, he runs away instead. Despite his efforts, not only does God find him, but the people on the ship realize shortly that he is the source of their misfortune and that they can only avoid God's wrath by throwing him overboard. In the storm, he should die, but instead he is swallowed by a whale that then spits him up on land. Despite arriving tardy, the people repent. Upset because he feels like the people would repent even if he hadn't gone, Jonah gets upset with God for wasting his time. Although Jonah curses God, God sends a plant to shade Jonah as he wallows in self-pity. The people in Ninevah were important to God, and you can see looking back just how much work God did in order to give them the best chance to make the best choice they could.

I marvel at the things that sometimes come together to make things work out the way they did. I'm looking at an opportunity at work that constitutes a process 15 years or more in the making. Some experiences began in high school as I worked in a photography lab. Certain uncomfortable situations in graduate school apply as strengths now to qualify me for this opportunity. Even a few troubles working at Walmart may come into play. Then there are the things that happened since I took my current position. If I hadn't had issues with a coworker, I would have never been transferred, which means I would have never met Roger, taken his position when he transferred, met Lori who put me in contact with John through whom this door may open. Along this road, many of the things that arose appear to be trials like the storm, the whale, and the scorching sun from Jonah's story. However, they may lead to a great opportunity.

About a week ago, I saw an interesting mathematical example on the internet. Someone went through the calculations to figure out, in just ten generations, what the odds were that your particular sperm fused with an ovum in your mother to produce the specific you that you are. The number is statistically equivalent to zero, and that's just in ten generations and only includes the sperm! The odds are so against you being here, living now, reading this, that it can't possibly be coincidence. Some of you are family or friends who visit with some regularity, but some of you were brought here "randomly" today. It's no coincidence that in the School of Science and Math that the Math professors are more likely to believe in God and that the more math the discipline contains the more the professors believe in faith in addition to reason. When you do the math, things don't add up on their own. Things happen for a reason. I keep hoping that a particular thing with a particular person meets with God's approbation, warrants His intervention, fulfills His purpose, and pleases His will and that I meet a WOW woman or preferably meet one again with whom to share my life. I see lots of people during the day, but most of them don't turn out to be important even for the day let alone long term. When it's right, the ones who matter find their way back to your life.

Sitting on a bus bench in Haag am Hausruck Austria, Dathan Young taught me a powerful lesson in 1998. "God knows what He wants. Usually no matter how hard we try, we can't mess up His plan." I sought counsel, acted as well as I could in concert with it, let people make their own choices and trusted that God had a reason to allow me to be disappointed. I guess it's probably better that I met with disappointment as opposed to others, because I know plenty of people who would conclude if they met with my lot that there must not be a God. A lot of things haven't turned out the way I hope. Some of them I thank God didn't turn out that way. Some things remain as yet unsatisfied. I don't know why this must be, and I know I'm not the only one wondering why they are this way or hoping it will change, both for me as well as in their stories. This I do believe because I see it time and time again in scripture: God provides a way. Years back, my cousin told me once when a woman broke my heart that if God isn't showing you how to achieve what He asks, it's not a command for you right this moment. When it is, He will open your eyes, open the doors, and help you if you are ready to act on the opportunities to achieve what He asks and what you desire. When I think of all the improbable stories I know, I see in them an invisible hand guiding the actions, softening the hearts, and aligning the opportunities so that good things can come. He is the gardener here. Everything has been done according to the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things. Wherever you are, whenever it's right, you'll come out of nowhere and into my life, and things will turn out the way they should.