--Merriam-Webster.com
Chaos.
That was the scene at the crazy conclusion to a football
game this past Sunday afternoon between the teal green uniformed Miami Dolphins
and New England's own red, white and blue
Patriots. Even if you're not a football fan, it was hard not to be in awe of the chaos contained within just the
blink of an eye, something you had to see to believe.
With just seven seconds left in the game, with just one play
left for the Dolphins, with millions of Pats fans ready to celebrate another
victory, I like so many others was sitting in my Lazy-Boy and thinking,
"What could go wrong?"
Try everything.
Pats up 33-28. Miami's
last chance. Sixty nine yards to go. No way! Then chaos arrived. The ball was
hiked; a pass to one Dolphin who then tossed the ball to a teammate who then hurled
the ball to another teammate who then zigged and zagged and scrambled into the
end zone. No time left. Dolphins win.
Pats lose. The play looked like one I might have executed in a backyard pick up
game when I was ten years old.
Crazy. Cool. Nuts. Chaos.
What were the actual chances of that happening? Football statistics
geek Brian Burke, on his website Advance Football Analytics, reports a team in the
Dolphins position had a less than a one percent chance of winning. But then
chaos comes, an ever present possibility in football, in life. A Pats player
stumbles on his own feet and misses the tackle by a fingertip. A Dolphin runner
cuts left. His opponent lunges right. Touchdown. The Fish win 34-33, thus proving
that in chaos anything is possible.
Chaos: the power hard wired into everything in life, from
the beginning of life. It's the possibility in any given moment or situation
for millions, even billions of outcomes to happen. Chaos is the reality that we
while we mortals may think, presume, and assume we absolutely know a sure thing, a safe bet, or a clear conclusion, this
does not always happen. Sometimes that's a good thing. Ask the Dolphin fans,
some of whom consider their win a miracle. (Something tells me God doesn't much
care who wins a football game.) Sometimes
it's a bad thing. Just ask a heartbroken Pats fan this week. Better yet don't.
They're still recovering.
What that game's chaotic ending reminded me, is that...we humans
never know. Never know how things might turn out or shift or change or flip or
zig even when we are sure life will zag.
It can be something as inconsequential as a football game. It can be
something as profound as our health or a relationship or the direction of a
country or the fate of the world itself.
Is chaos good? When a chance encounter with a stranger at a
friend's party leads to love, marriage and family, yes! When a random investment in an unknown stock
called Amazon in 1997 leads to unexpected wealth, yes! When a midnight stroll
under the stars happens the same night as a rare aurora borealis bursting in
the sky with a technicolor God show, absolutely, yes! Bring on the chaos.
Is chaos bad? When health worsens, hurts us or a loved, yes.
Chaos stinks. When politicians can't see beyond the self interest of their own politics
or their own desires for power, even thought this guarantees worldwide
upheaval, is chaos scary? Yes. When a tornado touches down, a hurricane howls,
a blizzard blows, chaotic weather that cannot be predicted or tamed, is this a
gut punch? Yes. No thank you chaos.
But still we can respond, in faith, to chaos. Accept chaos
as a given, baked into Creation from the moment God formed the world out of the
formless void of chaos. From chaos comes creation, then and now. Chaos humbles,
reminds us that ultimately we as a species do not run the whole show. Chaos
brings us together, pushes us to rely upon each other in community and mutual
support. Chaos means anything is possible: the good, the bad, everything.
Chaos is. As a Pats
fan I know this is true. The good news? There's another game next Sunday. Who
knows what might happen?
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