March 9, 2008

• Miracles still do happen :-D

      This past weekend, I was volunteering with my service fraternity APO (Alpha Phi Omega). After painting an elementary school for a few hours, I had to leave so that I could make it back to an interview by 1pm.
       At 12:10 I called the cab company, and waited outside with 3 people for 20 minutes. When we realized that no one would come, I called the cab company four more times. Each time – the operator would yell into the dispatch radio “SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME AT 22nd and Brown!” 
     – no reply

     So we kind of stood there hopeless – two of us desperate to get back by 1pm. We needed a dang cab to pick up that call!

      (This is where my faith comes in). For one second, I had this big faith, and I was SURE that God was going to provide a way home for us. Then just a few seconds later, a cab pulls up at 22nd and Brown.
  - Now keep in mind that this is a SMALL residential road – no cab randomly goes by!

      So we figured that somebody had picked up our call request- but no one did – it was another cab company. He was dropping off a lady who requested to be dropped off at OUR EXACT SAME LOCATION.
  Now who gets dropped off at 22nd and Brown!? And how in the world is it in JUST ENOUGH TIME to get back to my interview RIGHT before it started.

       The cab driver and I got to talk during our ride back. We talked about faith and Jesus. He used to be a strong Muslim who turned to Jesus and now, he’s writing a book comparing Islam to Christianity . It was so encouraging to hear how God was working in another person’s life .

        For me – this was enough to convince me that it was a miracle, God’s work -The woman getting dropped off at 22nd and Brown at the EXACT time we needed to be picked up by to get to our interview by 12:59pm (30 seconds before our interview began).

       But just for the sake of it.. because some of us are analytical – I did a simple mathematical analysis .

   
  Here’s how I calculated.
    I simply took 2 factors into consideration (even though there were more)
  1. The cab driver came at the perfect minute to take us back to campus. I gave it some slack and said that the taxi cab driver can come in a span of 5 minutes for us to make it back at exactly the right time.
     So 5min/1440 min  = 1/288
  2. The cab NEVER stops at 22nd and Brown even though there are thousands of cabs in Philly.
    I gave it A LOT of slack and said.. the cab stops at 22nd and Brown 1/100 times.

  In the law of probability – for both of these to happen at the same time, you have to multiply them.
  1/288 * 1/100 = 1/28800!!

      That’s one chance out of 28,800 chances that this moment could have been a coincidence more than a miracle . I believe strongly that God provided for me when I placed my faith in Him .

      That’s my story of the day –

     “…” I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you
  can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.
  Nothing will be impossible for you”   - Matthew 17:20

  • 3:03 am
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