So, my beloveds, you will forgive me if I go off the rails a bit and get a little philosophical with you for this post. It’s just the way I have been feeling these days. Have you ever considered what on earth are we doing here? What is the purpose of life? How do we explain the very reason for our existence? Okay — that’s even too deep for me.

What I have been wrestling with, and musing about lately, has been this whole idea of being in the perfect place at just the right time. I am happy where I am… but wonder if there is more. I know God has a plan, but what do I do about it? What is my role in this big, wide universe? How do I fit?

There is a philosophic consideration out there called the “Anthropic principle” that basically says (and don’t hold me to this as I am neither a cosmos expert, nor philosopher!) that the universe’s fundamental parameters must be absolutely perfect for life to be possible here on Earth for us to survive as human beings. A little closer to the sun, we fry. A little farther, we freeze. A force like gravity, or nuclear push and pull, is one iota off, and we all secretly implode or spontaneously combust or something… which leads many to believe that there must be a Creator out there who designed it that way…

But let’s hone in a little closer to home, shall we? I was reminded this week of many summers ago when we were up enjoying the Kawartha regions, and a particularly fierce summer thunderstorm hit. The ones where the sky turns that evil looking green-grey and the sheets and sheets of rain pour down in curtains of water. Violent lightening had struck an old tree and split the large trunk in two… we only heard the resultant thud as the split branch fell — exactly inches — okay a single inch— away from my brother’s brand new vehicle! A vehicle he had purchased about a day or so before! Was it luck? Was it God’s great providence? Was it simply a co-incidence? We were left amazed that the limb had been split exactly in a spot where the pieces would fall exactly perpendicular to the car, in exactly opposite to the other tree half, etc. etc. etc. Much like the philosophers, we contemplated the “what if’s” of the situation.

Perhaps you are like me, and think about the “what if’s”. Or the “what now’s”. Or maybe you spiral down into the even deeper realms of the “oh Phooey’s*” (* insert whatever word you deem appropriate here for your own thoughts) and you call out in desperate prayers to God and ask the hard questions. I got your back on this one. I’m here with you, musing about all that holds the balance of the universe together and the philosophical orbits of what is our place, right now?!

Coincidentally, (or maybe not), our topic for Sunday’s sermon was the providence of God. We were encouraged to seek out the examples in the Bible of how He time and time again provides. My thoughts settled, today, on Esther. A woman (strike one) with a lost identity, caught between a rock and a hard place, searching for answers. Answers that would not only shape the future for her as potential queen, but for an entire nation sentenced to death and annihilation. And then she is prompted: “… who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

Mic drop. Dab. Boo-ya. Whatever current gesture you wanna throw out there. God has you (and me) smack dab in the middle of the pit (or King’s palace as it may be) for some reason. Exactly not too close to get burned up by the sun, and not too far to freeze, but exactly within one part in 10 to the power of 55 as to not be pulled apart by the expansion of the universe! (my apologies to every physics teacher I ever had). It’s not our job to debate it. It’s our job to believe and place our trust in the One who placed us there… for just such a time as this.