How to find God by Losing Your Car Keys

I'm sure you're wondering...

But don't expect any miracles to be revealed in this blog post. The best that I can tell you is that you might think a little deeper about your own life experience, and perhaps find a bit more meaning than you previously had. Maybe not. But either way, let's get started.

The story begins like this: This morning I met with my Thursday networking group ProMetroNet. Immediately afterward, I struck up a conversation with a very nice gentleman sitting next to me, who I found out has a similar love for bike riding. At the conclusion of our talk, we neglected to exchange contact information. but upon our departure we both said (at exactly the same time) "I hope to see you again". Remember this for later.

After Irene and I finished the Coaching Corner radio show today (Thursdays on wrcr.com at 10:07 am), I mozied on down to my car, where I planned to head back to the office to get some Rockland Web Design work done. On the way there, I realized I didn't have my car keys on me! Now I admit, I deal with a lot of details on a day to day basis, as I'm sure we all do, and I sometimes misplace things like my keys. But usually I find them pretty quickly. This time I was at a loss. They weren't inside my car, they weren't in the radio station, and nobody seemed to know where they were.

I was getting increasingly frustrated. I had several deadlines to meet today and as usual, very little time to get it all done. I had my laptop with me, so I decided to head across the street to Panera Bread, where I logged onto the Internet and started to do some work. But I was mostly distracted by the worry that I couldn't find my keys.


Shortly thereafter, I came across a news article that disillusioned me even further. Stephen Hawking, the British Theoretical Physicist who wrote the book "A Brief History of Time", is about to release a new publication that theorizes God did not have a hand in creating the universe. According to his latest findings, his theories all point to the consensus that the laws of physics by themselves were able to create the universe from nothingness. Kind of like making a chicken without an egg or a chicken..

Why would a small news factoid like this depress me? Well I don't know about you, but when I have a bad day, hearing something that challenges my fundamental beliefs on life can be emotionally jarring. I grew up in a very devout Christian household, yet I was fortunate to be blessed (and still am) with a Mom that showed me many different ways, Faiths and Religions on contemplating / relying on the existence of God. This has been a source of strength for me thoughout my life, especially during the difficult stretches.

However, I also believe in the relevance of Science. I'm no genius, but I see the correlations between facts, numbers, some causes and effects. So to reconcile the two, I sought those geniuses that factored in the existence of a Higher Power in their theories (I mean if George Lucas and Peter Jackson did, why shouldn't I?). Stephen Hawking was one of those people. To hear him suddenly flip his theories around was similar to suddenly finding out that the Earth is no longer round -- it's now gone back to flat.

As I said, this story disillusioned me. And at that moment I said a prayer that -- if 'anybody' was listening would've probably sounded more like a Police A.P.B., but a very very silent one. At that moment, the bike rider guy I met this morning walked back into the restaurant...5 hours later from when I met him. We had hoped to meet again; we did not expect this to happen so quickly. Coincidence?

The subsequent 1 hour conversation I had with this gentleman spanned many topics, such as politics, business, life, bike riding and other things. And, without going into too much detail, we also discussed something that that might mutually benefit us and others in a very good, tangible and significant way. We exchanged information this time, and plan to follow up with each other in the coming days.


I hope you can relate to this - a chain of events that led to an effect that could never have happened in a million years, except for some strange, inexplicable set of causes that culminate in a new chain reaction result. Yes I can hear some of you right now saying "bah humbug" it's all cause and effect and absolutely nothing more...but think about it for a moment. Did you ever wonder about when two random events occur next to each other? Did you ever stop to think that there might be more to the random occurrences than just sheer coincidence? The prognosticator Nostradamus tended to associate such closely related writings, occurrences, and coincidences, using them to detect possible future outcomes. Some of his predictions have been strangely accurate, even ones related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the onset of world wars,um and I hope at least a few happy ones.

Before he passed away, my late Stepfather told me on his deathbed that there has to be a God, simply because there are just too many coincidences that occur in our lives. I see such occurrences so often that if I started communicating all of them to the general public, I'd probably be put away for some time (at least I'd get a break from answering emails for a while :-D) But even without such coincidence, I can do something as simple as looking at my hand, move it with my thoughts as normal, and remember what a miracle it is to be able to do so. When we were children we could stare at this miracle with such wonderment. Now as we retreat further into the logical side of our brains, we begin to take for granted that which was originally a miracle to us, including the one we spoke to before we went to sleep each evening. Whoever, or whatever created us...cannot be explained by mortal man. And quite frankly, at some point we should stop trying to do so and just accept it, the way we did when we were brand new.

Stephen Hawking is a brilliant Physicist, but today I am deeply disappointed that he has flipped his views on the role of God in the creation of the universe (BTW to be fair, I don't think he wrote that God does not exist, he simply stated that his theories do not lead him to the conclusion that God had a hand in creating the universe - the Laws of Physics did). Another lesser known scientist Fred Allen Wolfe (a.k.a. Dr. Quantum) , author of the book "Taking the Quantum Leap" once reported on a classical 1920's experiment that showed that the mere act of observation changes the outcome. If this is the case, is it possible that our attempt to seek the true nature of God could hide the Deity from our eyes?

Check it out for yourself...

I should mention that several months ago I met another gentleman at a party that prompted me to write a draft blog about the video you just saw. But I was so astounded that I couldn't put it all into writing, and saved it for future completion. Today is the day that I complete it, with a simple story that begins with losing my car keys.

I hope you see a point in all these ramblings I submit to you here today. If you don't, consider having a dialogue with other friends and family that you think may relate to this. It might open your eyes to something different that you did not notice before. My feeling is that sometimes you just gotta believe. It's as simple as that. And when you do - all sorts of things happen that open your eyes to a much different reality than is right in front of you. Yet it's up to you to take that first step. When you stop believing (which happens from time to time), that's when the universe of miracles, wonder and amazement collapse for the sake of the cold hard numbers, facts, laws and rules, the orderly and linear direct cause and effect that we've all socially accepted as the norm for our corporeal existences. But behind the scenes, there might be something, someone that can be found with a simple 'Dear God'.

The choice is yours.

Oh by the way: Later, after I left my conversation with my new friend, I found my keys. They were on top of the roof of my car.

:-D