You reach a certain age and you decide one of two things.
There is no divine presence in the world, only that which science has yet to explain or you’ve allowed for the wider possibility that things beyond science have purposefully had their hands in things quite deliberately all along.
If you believe in the latter, then you know that God does not play with dice and while free will abounds, nothing is coincidence.
Yes, we’ve all lost people close to us.
We’ve all witnessed horrific things and wondered what kind of God allows this, but there is no appreciating the sweet without the sour. There’s no true test of character without pain and suffering. And your gratitude for the sweet, grows in ways you can’t imagine.
Every year you have with good health.
Every year you have your parents.
Every night you sleep in a warm bed under the shelter of a roof.
But every now and then, God, the Universe, his angels, see fit, for reasons I will never understand, will quite literally send magic into your life. I don’t know why but he gave love and magic human form and put Raqueli Contreras in the same building as me one day and the rest is history.
On paper, the two of us should not be friends.
We’re too different. And not always in a complimentary way. But I find myself a literal friend in need these days and she has been a true friend indeed. When the chips are down and rock bottom is your new reality, you quickly discern true friends from fleeting acquaintances.
I am truly blessed that of late she’s decided to be my friend, even when now, I have little more than heartache to offer. I pray the good lord sees fit to bless her with many more happy and fulfilled years on this earth.
Justin Challenger 