Luck and Chance

Luck and Chance
Luck is defined as:
-the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person's life, as in shaping circumstances, events, or opportunities: With my luck I'll probably get pneumonia.
- good fortune; advantage or success, considered as the result of chance

Chance is defined as:
-a possibility or probability of anything happening: a fifty-percent chance of success.
-an opportune or favorable time; opportunity: Now is your chance.

I don’t agree with the first definition: that chance is the absence of any cause of events that can be predicted, understood, or controlled

I have often stated that I don’t believe in luck. I adopted this stance based on what a pastor, that I highly respected, stated once in a sermon. He was so adamant that there was no such thing as luck that he even refused to call the church meal carry-in dinners “Pot Luck” dinners. He called them “Pot Blessings.”

A couple responses to my post about our involvement in a car accident on Saturday prompted me to contemplate what I really do believe about luck. One person said that we were “lucky” that nothing worse happened; while another was commiserating with us over our seeming stream of “bad luck.” Oddly, I was even wondering about the forces at work since we had contemplated going to a couple different restaurants (both in the other direction). What were the “chances” of us getting into an accident if we had gone to a different place to eat? Was it my fault for picking the wrong accident?

We “run into” people all the time—not literally, but we all use the phrase to describe “chance” encounters with people at the grocery or when we’re out and about. Are those “chance encounters” really chance or divinely appointed opportunities? Were we supposed to run into this lady—or was she supposed to run into us? Isn’t it odd that just two days ago I mentioned that worship group in another post (see potofmanna.blogspot.com) and actually had been thinking about the group who had been so incredibly supportive during that really rough period in our journey?

Nelson and I were just talking about this. A couple paragraphs up, I meant to write, “Was it my fault for picking the wrong RESTAURANT” not “ACCIDENT.” How Freudian was that? Nelson had reflected on the accident and had thought about what if we had gone to one of the other restaurants, what if the vehicle that hit us was a semi and not a mini-van? He could have died. In light of that, he was thankful that we went the way we did.

The matter begs that we ask the question about sovereignty. I believe that God has an active will, but because he has given us free will, there is also the aspect of permissive will. I don’t pretend to be able to explain these—they are a mystery that I will choose to accept and live with.