What Are the Odds?
How many variables have to synchronize for that moment to occur? The changing speeds of the car during its journey; stoplights; traffic density; the exact moment the driver departed.
It happens all the time: I’m walking our dog Roxie along our quiet residential lane when a car coming from the opposite direction slows to turn into the very driveway I’m about to cross, causing one of us to pause and let the other pass.
The only two things moving on the street!
How many variables have to synchronize for that moment to occur? The changing speeds of the car during its journey; stoplights; traffic density; the exact moment the driver departed. And then there’s me, accompanied by a good-natured cream retriever who stops every few feet or so, at her whim, to enjoy a good sniff.
What are the odds?
The Book of Acts, which I’m reading with my church group right now, feels a bit like this to me- a chain of unlikely events somehow aligning- but in this case, guided by the hand of God.
Acts reads less like abstract theology and more like a lived account of those earliest days of the Church. It tells the story of a small group of believers banding together in faith- blemishes and all.
This is from Acts 1, spoken by a handful of believers, trying to make sense of seeing their Lord put to death and then walking among them again:
“Then they gathered around him and asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’
He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”
And this is Acts 2, which describes how the earliest Christians lived according to Jesus’s teachings:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”
We know that once a ball starts rolling, it gains momentum. But even with divine help, getting initial traction for any endeavor takes commitment, faith, and perseverance.
And remember, in this story, the hero dies.
That must have left many of Jesus’s followers devastated and without hope, which is one reason I believe in the truth of the Resurrection. Would so many have risked so much without it?
Acts is the story of unlikely people being moved through unlikely circumstances by the hand of God.
And perhaps that’s our story too.
A small, frightened, flawed group of believers somehow found courage, community, and purpose. They shared what they had. They welcomed those who had been kept outside. They supported each other under persecution. And through them, the message Jesus taught- love over hate, mercy over judgment, inclusion over separation- began to move through the world.
What are the odds?
Until next time, stay safe, be brave and keep walking in the light.
Here’s a brand-new song- “We Count Our Many Blessings,” brought to life with a little production help from by AI.