Meet your love, marry, make it 50 Years? What are the odds? Or chances, likelihood, random luck or divine appointment?
Mashing 50 Years of Math
Go figure this… Eight classmates from the North, South, East and West meet in college. The eight become four couples. The four all marry, move, travel, have families and different careers in medicine, real estate, business, media. Seasons change, kids, families and 50 years come and go.
Life According to Artificial Intelligence
What is the numerical probability the four couples, 50 years later, would still be alive? Still married? And would gather together at a reunion in Alaska? Seems like a long shot. Folks pass away. Marriages dissolve. Friendships fade. Plans change. So, I asked all-knowing AI. What is the bottom-line numerical analysis all of that can happen for eight souls 50 years later.
Here it is: 0.000035% likelihood all of that comes to pass. Put another way, one in 28,000 would be a good guess.
They’re From the 70s
Guess again… here they are. Libby and Bruce, Cindy and Roland, Barbara and Mike, Joanne and Larry all venture to Vancouver and set sail for Alaska. The hair has thinned, but the memories have not. After 50 years, there’s plenty to recall, recount, share. The stories, pranks and punch lines get bigger with time. Sometimes the same story sneaks in… but no harm… they are 70-something, right?
What about now? L-B are traveling the globe on medical mission trips. Africa is next. C-R lead a national youth ministry aimed at shaping the next generation. B-M work in tech development and electrical connectivity. J-L writes a bit and grandparents a lot.
How Does Anyone Make it 50 Years
Most nights after dinner, we gather to share, remember, read a Bible verse, consider God’s goodness in the creation seen that day… and in 50 years of life. I offered my AI question… what is the likelihood we’re here after 50 years? Most couldn’t produce a number that small, one was close, but another countered the zero-something number all together. “The answer is 100%,” and then references Jeremiah 29:11…
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Indeed, if God is in it, He will guide the way…. 50 years, 50 feet or whatever awaits.
Chance or Intelligent Design
Traveling Alaska brings into focus Denali high mountains, glaciers, whales, and wildlife that are anything but random in their homeland. It all fits and makes sense. Even salmon swimming upstream. Same for our 50-year friends. No doubt we’ve all fumbled aplenty along the way. Each couple has suffered loss and sometimes tragedy. Life affords few fairy tale endings. But here we are… small but certain like everyone and everything else in God’s big universe. Perhaps one ponders more deeply under starry skies on a mountain-lined glacier sea. But everything about our trip reminds of order in our universe… vast creation, true Creator and Savior, 50-year friends.
Some may hold to a random creation, life, friends, events. I’ll go with the Divine… no matter what AI says.
One need not go to Alaska or wait 50 years for an epiphany:
- Find some alone time
- Ask God to show you His way
- Check the links below
- Believe we’re all here with a purpose
Jeremiah 29:11, John 1:1-4, John 14, Romans 10:13
