Burned Toast Theory and a split second difference

There is a theory out there that goes something like this: if you make toast for breakfast before leaving the house and you burn it, the time it takes to toast another piece of bread might be the time it took to save you from a car crash or some other tragedy: The burned toast theory.

I grew up hearing that theory a little differently; I always heard about God or guardian angels protecting me; intervening on my behalf, directing, protecting, allowing, blocking, etc.

Do you believe in something getting in the way of your inertia on purpose? Or do you believe in coincidence? ( coincidence is events or circumstances occurring at the same time without any apparent connection ) Do you believe that things just happen or that what happens is your destiny not just fate?

Those that work with statistics will tell you that sometimes there just is no way that something can logically happen, that you can count it as coincidence. But the probability of a coincidence is actually higher than most think and it is inevitable. Is it some designed or divine intervention of circumstances or is it just chance?

If you look at things that make you have to wait, or cause you to miss something; or change your course of action, in a seemingly out of your hands way, what do you initially think? Are you grateful for the delay because you believe it is saving you from something bad or are you annoyed at having plans changed and interfered with?

if you look at things from a scarcity mindset instead of an abundant mindset, you won’t see the grace in the protection. You will miss the reason for not being in the situation you would have been on time for.

We just had a former President of the United States have his life spared because of a split second, a couple of inches, a turn of the head. Was it divine intervention? Was it a coincidence of a series of actions? Was it a blessing? Was it a “come to Jesus” moment? or just an eye opening one?

I honestly don’t know how to look at situations such as this without thinking that God was involved and saved a life for greater good down the road. It is my life-long wiring to believe in the blessings of missed opportunities and found surprises. It is trust. It is hating the burned bread but knowing I need to make the other piece of toast to find the blessing.

As with any of these find the blessing situations, there is another side. The president was spared, but someone else lost their life in the assassination attempt. A father lost his life protecting his family. That doesn’t feel like a blessing. Sometimes it is a long time before the blessing becomes obvious, sometimes it is immediate, and sometimes is just isn’t there.

There are so many “sliding glass door” moments in our lives. What if you got on this train car instead of that one and you were delivered to a totally different place? Whatever you call it, how ever you choose to experience it, recognize it or NOT, you can choose to see the blessings, you can remain underwhelmed, or you can choose to believe everything is a coincidence. You just might want to take the batteries out of your smoke detector if that’s the case.