Do you feel lucky?

I think last night's episode of Lost was one of my absolute favorites. We got to learn Hurley's, the island's plus-size social director, backstory and what got him on that plane. I also got to add to my "Favorite Lost Moments" list - I choked up when Locke gave Claire a cradle for her baby on what turned out to be her birthday. But all that aside, the episode was about luck - bad luck mostly for those that were around Hurley and the mysterious numbers that came from the island. I've doubt we've heard the last of those numbers but luck is a worthwhile topic to discuss.

I used to believe in luck, or fate. Not exclusively mind you, I thought lots of things were conspiring against me to keep me alone and sad. But then I met God. And God's Word promises that nothing is out of His control. If nothing is out of his control, then there is no such thing as luck. For the purposes of blogging, I can't get into a treastise on the topic, but don't you find that lots of people believe in luck? And then there are those, like the lady who lost her leg on Lost said, "We make our own luck." So either we believe that luck is the god, we are the God or God is God. I think it could be a very useful tool in sharing about Christ to find out what people believe about how the world really works.

I think that's why I enjoyed the episode so much - it really gave some very real examples of how some people in our culture view luck. Hurley thinks he's cursed, and says that he's cursed - and even according to the Bible, we will often eat the fruit of our lips. So will things go badly around Hurley because of real bad luck or because he simply believes that it will? I honestly think this is where the enemy can have a heyday with humans. Because if he can get us believing in luck or fate, then he can also get us to believe that we're not really responsible for the choices we make.

And we are responsible for our choices. There's not some cosmic "luck god" who's controlling things on a whim, but God Almighty. That makes me rest a whole lot easier.