Sometimes Life Is Just This Random
Sometimes life is just so random. Take for example the “accidental” good fortune ($10 million worth!) of LaQuedra Edwards of SoCal, whose random collision with a stranger resulted in the haul of a lifetime.
As UPI reports:
Edwards had just put $40 into a lottery ticket vending machine at a supermarket in Los Angeles when "some rude person" bumped into her, causing her to accidentally push the wrong number on the machine.
"He just bumped into me, didn't say a thing and just walked out the door," Edwards said.
Edwards was quire resentful at first, because she had just put nearly all her cash into the machine, and was now committed to a lotto ticket that was not of her choosing.
She usually purchases cheaper tickets, but the accidental button push meant she'd bought a $30 200X Scratchers ticket.
Her annoyance and frustration was quickly turned to exuberant disbelief as she began scratching the ticket, only to find that she just won the $10 million jackpot!
Edwards said. "I pulled over, looked at it again and again, scanned it with my (California Lottery mobile) app, and I just kept thinking this can't be right."
The fact that such a thing could happen to one means that it could just as easily happen to anyone. God's love is indiscriminate and the random nature of life is meant to drive that point home.
Today it may rain on my field but tomorrow it may rain on yours. Either way, the message is the same. God loves us all indiscriminately.
"He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Mattew 5:45b, NIV).
Every Soul Is Priceless
"A speaker started his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. 'Who would like this?' he asked. Hands went up throughout the audience. 'I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first let me do this.' He crumpled the bill. 'Who still wants it?' The same hands went up in the air. 'Well, ' he replied, 'what if I do this?' He dropped the twenty and started to grind it into the carpet with his shoe He picked it up, all wrinkled and dirty. 'Now who still wants it?' Again, hands went into the air. 'You have all learned a valuable lesson,' the speaker said 'No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.'"
Mr. Kays adds, "Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and grounded into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God's eyes. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are priceless to Him."
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
God Loves Us First, We Love Him Last
In the blockbuster movie Forest Gump, there’s a beautiful picture of God's love. It’s seen in the relationship between Forest and Jenny. From childhood, Forest loves Jenny. But Jenny is too enamored by worldly things and looks past Forest in her search for fulfillment. Jenny strikes out in search of fame and success but finds disappointment and heartache instead. All the while, Forest waits for her to come home to him.
Forest loved Jenny first, before everything else. But Jenny failed to appreciate his devotion until the very end of her life. Although Forest picked Jenny first, she picked him last.
Fortunately, Forest's love for Jenny was so selfless that he did not resent her for doing so.
In the same way, our first choice in life isn’t God. Enamored by the world, we look past Him to all of the things that we are sure will bring us lasting happiness.
But while we're doing all of that, God waits patiently for us. We pursue everything that life has to offer before we were willing to look to the One who gave us life. And even though He gave His life for us, we hold our life back from Him.
But after the idols we preferred fail us, God is still there, patiently waiting and willing to be picked last.
And that's what we do. At the end of ourselves, and despite ourselves, we reluctantly turn to the One who loved us from the beginning.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10, NIV).
"But God has shown us how much he loves us--it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!" (Romans 5:8, GNT).