Weighing the Odds
By: Susan Grant
Tags: Christianity, Golf, Religion, Mindfulness, Creativity

Weighing the Odds

A Reflection on 3 Mind-boggling, Near Impossible Events

Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

“If you set out in a spaceship to find the one planet in the galaxy that has life, the odds against your finding it would be so great that the task would be indistinguishable, in practice, from impossible.” Richard Dawkins

There are many days in our lives that are routine; everything happens the way it always does. There is security in this; it’s predictable.

When incidents happen that are out-of-the-ordinary, it gets our attention because it is not predictable and not all these events are bad; some are extraordinary.

I had one such day recently when three mind-boggling things came to my attention. As I reflect on them, the mathematical probability of them happening is minute and yet, they did.

Three mind-boggling, near impossible events

1. Mini-golf and the Number 10

Image by Felix Wolf from Pixabay

My husband and I recently celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. As part of our day, we went to a mini-golf course and played a round of 18 holes. Neither one of us plays golf nor have we played this course in years.

When we arrived, there were many people playing the easier course, so we played the challenging one. As we worked through each hole, we would shake our heads at the complexity of them. Despite this, we both got holes-in-one, on hole number 10.

What are the chances of both of us, who don’t play golf; playing the challenging course; and getting holes-in-one on the same difficult hole? Small, huh?

This story doesn’t end here, either. At the end of the course, when you bring back your clubs, this mini-golf business looks at your score card.

If you have any holes-in-one, they spin a wheel made up of 18 pie-wedge shapes. If it stops on the number you have a hole-in-one; you win a free game.

That day, the mini-golf clerk spun the wheel, and it landed on number 10; both of us won a free game. What are the odds of this happening?

These two non-golf playing people both get holes-in-one on the challenging course; on the same number 10 hole; and that number is the one the wheel landed on for two free games.

I am not a mathematician, but I’m guessing the odds of this happening are rather slim.

2. The Teacher in Rural America

Photo by Susan Grant

On the same day, my husband was telling me about a new teacher he had worked with this year.

I had met him at a ballgame in the winter and knew he was from down South but that day, my husband said he recently discovered this man had taught in the same school district we had in North Carolina and while teaching there, was a colleague to a friend of mine.

Not astonished yet? Let me fill you in on a few details. The school system in North Carolina is small and rural.

This place is a small spec on the map compared to bigger cities surrounding it, such as Charlotte and Raleigh.

When this man moved, he chose a small fishing village on the coast of Maine, almost at the Canadian border. This village has just over 1,000 residents and the high school tops off at 80 students.

What are the chances that a teacher who moved to our tiny fishing village taught in the same school district we did and knows many people we do? It’s mind-boggling.

3. The love of a Savior for Someone Like Me

Image by sspiehs3 from Pixabay

On this same day, as my husband and I reflected on our 32 years of marriage, with its ups and downs, I began weighing some other odds.

What is the chance that God, Who is so powerful, He spoke everything into being, would be in the least bit interested in my everyday life?

Psalm 34:18 (ESV) says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

What are the chances that God, Who even knows the number of hairs on my head (Luke 12:7) would care enough about one person, in all of history and be close to me when my spirit has been crushed?

In addition, this same God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for me. What are the odds? It truly is mind-boggling.