I don’t believe in chance. And I’m not sure I believe in fate, either. What I do believe in is a sovereign God who leads and directs me into situations and circumstances that can seem like chance or fate on the surface.

I know many of my friends will disagree with me. They will claim that either there is no God (or He doesn’t care) and so everything in life is left to chance. Or they will claim that God orders every step of our lives so everything is predestined. I just can’t bring myself to believe either of those scenarios.

There have been too many situations in my life that, despite my own plans and actions, have lined up in a way that only God could orchestrate. Take this afternoon for instance: I made a quick stop in the grocery store after leaving the dentist’s office where my appointment could easily have finished five minutes earlier or 10 minutes later. I wasn’t on a schedule, just picking up a few items before heading home. I went from one area of the store to the other without any logical path when I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a few weeks. It was clear there was something bothering him so we chatted for a few minutes and shared what was going on in our lives. A word of encouragement, a reminder that there’s someone who cares on the other end of the phone, a quick hug and off we went with our spirits lifted.

Some would look at this exchange as fate and others as chance. I suppose you could argue it was either of those, but life simply seems like more than a series of random situations and we seem like more than pawns in a giant game of chess. Without a doubt I know God cares about us – and in this moment I’m confident that because of His love, God led my day so that I could run into this friend and brighten his attitude along with mine.