The Question of Chance vs. Trust

There is no doubt that we’ve heard about the possibility of many things appearing to be chance or just luck saving someone from severe injury or death. Could either of these attributes be true in so many instances where one person is saved from serious injury or death over and over?

When placing the verb “Trust” in front of one individual that seems to protect him from a constant barrage of mishaps we must examine the probability that God's Angels are on their watch bringing a continued safety to this one who is chosen by God’s Son; Jesus Christ.

These following events were alluded to in other articles and rewriting them is a way of exploring the reality of anyone whom the Lord wants no harm to occur and keeps many safe from untold disasters. Without placing them in a chronological order I will begin with the oldest as my memory allows.

It was a snowy afternoon and a bunch of boys decided to have a snowball fight using two houses under construction. The one house my group chose only had the first floor boards without any framing. The other house was already framed-in including the second floor. They had an advantage since they could stand behind open studs while we were an open target. As I was walking backwards and making snowballs to throw I inadvertently stepped into the opening that was going to be the basement stairway. The next thing I became aware of was free falling and hit my head on the concrete floor below. However, I sensed that I was sliding down a large plank and it broke my sudden fall. The opening is 3 feet wide and the plank was at least 12” or 16” wide that construction workers used as a means to go down. The fact is I did slide backwards down this plank. Was this just a chance of falling freely on a plank that was 12" wide in an opening that was 3 feet wide? Just a large bump on my head. Chance?

A couple of years later the streets became very icy and these were the days when Wilkinsburg did not have snow removal equipment. So the police closed a particular street to vehicular traffic. As several of us were sliding down this steep street on our sleds, my friend? Pushed my sled yelling to quit dragging my feet. Instead of staying in a straight line my sled went directly into a car that wasn’t supposed to be there. My body hit the rear wheel with only my chest. Had my head been raised only inches I would have hit the bumper or fender. Sleds can be a guided missile with a child’s body acting as a propulsion of energy. Was this again a chance that could occur; my chest being the portion of my body that sustained any injury. The hospital doctors said I just had the wind knocked out of me. Chance?

Living in Mt Lebanon I had to park my truck in a public garage at night. This one morning, after a snow storm the night before, I was going down a flight of stairs in the garage. There is an opening at each landing in the stairwell and snow has blown onto the landing and frozen over. As I came down the first flight to the landing and was ready to go down the next flight, the Spirit told me there was ice on the steps. However I was already turning to go down and my feet both went out of balance and I slid down a set of frozen steps like a rocket. I never hit my head and my back was protected with a large winter coat. I lifted myself up and could hardly believe I slid down 11 steps completely frozen over and was only embarrassed of my mishap. I continued to go to my truck and drive to work. Chance? I hardly doubt that.

My continued recovery from Prostate cancer in 1995 and have been cancer free all these years, or my bout from Covid -19 in 2020 and never had to get shots even though the doctor told my wife with the first of 12 days in ICU was a certainty that I might die that night never occurred. Again Chance?

God does not deal with Chance. “Fear is useless, what is needed is Trust.” Words that the Lord spoke to me when a daughter was in a very precarious situation. Chance??? Not in your life!

There never was a possibility that God only reaches out to a few. He is there with probabilities that is grace that touches all who will allow their Faith to be their number one along with Hope and Love.

Ralph B. Hathaway