| cOiNciDeNcES are funny things. I used to read the Bible, or at least the Gospel stories about Jesus, and feel like they were somewhat canned. I mean, a plot that goes so smoothly just can't be real. All those circumstances tying together had a saintly, not-your-average-life sort of flavor. Now, a string of coincidences and circumstances tying into themselves seems to be what life is all about. In LiFe, there are no loose ends that don't eventually work themselves into part of the pattern. There are no things that just “happen” and no later mean something. The older I get, the less I say "What a coincidence!" and the more I say "Wow, that's freaky how that worked out" with a feeling that it wasn't just a convenient fluke. The stories in the Bible seem all the less surprising, all the less pristine or idealic, and all the more rEaL. I've realized the supernatural so hard at work in everyday life that I no longer find it uncanny... or unnatural. My life, Jesus' life--events carry an eerie appropriateness. It's like it's all been planned, timed, and perfected. pReDeStiNAtiOn is no longer theology to me, but experience. |