Our Life As A Sequence Of Events

“It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.”  Chaos Theory

I have been interested in chaos theory ever since I heard the term described in the original Jurassic Park movie.

Maybe I learn to swim in shallow pools of water, such as movies, however, chaos theory is fascinating, especially if you believe that events or circumstances in life do not just happen.

There is a cause to the effect.

There is a change in force, in velocity, in temperature, in our environment.

We are constantly changing.

Which is why I do not debate evolution with proponents or opponents.

When asked about my stance on evolution I generally respond to either side with this question and statement, “Are you physically standing there as a fully developed human being?  If so, what does it matter?  Where you came from is not nearly as important as where you are going.”

We are ever evolving.

And there are specific reasons and a certain sequence that causes an event to happen in our life.

However, we rarely can discern at the time they are occurring, the sequence of events that ultimately leads to the outcome.

We can not see it coming.

Dr. Ian Malcolm, fictional character, from Jurassic Park, described change this way, “All major changes are like death.  You can’t see what’s on the other side until you get there.”

Like James Earl Jones’ character, Terrance Mann, from the movie, Field of Dreams, you have to step into the corn before you can see what’s on the other side.

What of these sequence of events?

A relationship is often began by a look, a touch, a greeting which in the sequence of events may lead to dating, an engagement and marriage.

But the flutter of the butterfly’s wing may have been felt many years, even generations before, and to an extreme, can be pointed to the creation of man, and the complex biological sequence of events involved in reproduction.

There was an initial beginning of a sequence of events.

It’s effect was felt thousands, if not millions of years into the future.

What of career choices?

You were born in a year, at a place, to a specific family, and to some level of

socio-economic status.

These factors caused a sequence of events which in turn caused an ever evolving result.

If Bill Gates was born in Ohio, and not Seattle, Washington, fifteen years before his existing date of birth and was to never meet Paul Allen, Co-Founder of Microsoft, would there even be a Microsoft?

And if not, where would we be in terms of software and business development?

Our daily lives have been affected by the development of Microsoft.

If Steve Jobs was not born in San Francisco, California and given up for adoption, and adopted by a loving couple, who raised him among the brightest minds and encouraged his entrepreneurial spirit, where would, not just you, not just those living in the United States, but the entire world, take an account of how one’s life has been impacted for decades by multiple products, whose name begins with the letter “i”.

How does this tie in to sequence?

Sequence is defined as “a particular order in which related events, movements, or things follow each other.”

Every decision has a consequence.

Consequences are often thought of as bad.

Contrary.

A positive decision has a positive consequence.

Where did this thought process of sequence begin?

On Good Friday of 2015 when our daughter gave birth to her first child.

I asked two of the tending nurses how the process of labor begins.

Granted with each woman it is different, but there must be correlating factors as to the sequence of events.

When I inquired what is the name of the biological series or sequence of events, they looked at me with astonishment as though they were thinking, “Sir, you are a first time grandfather and you want to know how he got here?”

What did come from this inquiry is the further contemplation of how life develops and ultimately turns out.

No one remembers the beginning of days and no one can envision the end of time.

Yet from the first day to the last day is a sequence of events we call life.

This leads to that…which leads to the next…something…

Some may refer to it as the directing nature of God’s hand upon our life.

Others may contribute the outcome to chaos theory and possibly the flutter of a butterfly’s wings many years ago.

I can no more explain the sequence of events in life than I can the theory of evolution.

But I do find comfort in the following words.

“You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.”  Psalm 139:16