Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Faith and the elevator button

The up button for the elevator at work has burnt out. I hit it, nothing lit up, so I hit it again. Even though the logical part of my brain knew that the signal had been activated, I was still unsettled. I doubted whether or not the elevator would come, and debated taking the stairs instead. After a nervous minute, the bell dinged and the elevator doors opened. Was the button really working, or was this merely a coincidence?

In life, I tend to write off prayers being answered as coincidences (the Angry Mormon also has a recent post about this). Are they, or is the elevator button just burnt out?
Sometimes it really is just a coincidence. Other times you wait so long that you are certain the elevator is not even moving.
Sometimes I am ashamed I don't have the same faith in God as I do in the elevator.

6 comments:

NFlanders said...

Sorry Michael, I didn't see your comment on the Juanita Fulano thread (I don't go back and check the comments as often as I should).

Thanks for the info on The Avenging Angel. That sounds about right. I've been wondering about that movie for eight years now.

After my mission, I wanted to read all the books I had heard about. I took a couple of Spanish literature courses in college, but Arlt was the only one who seemed to write in the same language that I learned in Argentina.
Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to check out any other books by him yet. I think I have Los Siete Locos at home but only in English. (It can be difficult to locate books in Spanish that aren't by Garcia-Marquez or Allende). Aren't the Aguasfuerte PorteƱas columns he did for a newspaper?

So, did you also serve in Argentina or do you go on business?

NFlanders said...

I'd be much obliged if you could tell me the names of the bookstores. I think I've gotten just about everything I can from the Borders Spanish language section (it's not bad though; they have plenty of Quiroga, Borges, and even the occasional Bioy Casares).
You can email me at VivaNedFlanders@gmail.com if that's easier.

NFlanders said...

By the way, Capt. Jack, which mission did you serve in?

NFlanders said...

Was that before they made BA West?
That is where I was.

NFlanders said...

Wow. The mission was huge back then. Unfortunately, I was never in any of your old areas, so I guess we can't talk about the members. Oh well.

NFlanders said...

What were the rumors? I can't imagine what a rumor about mission boundaries would be like.

It seems like BAW got a lot of BAN: La Matanza, Merlo, Moron, Moreno, and half of Tres de Febrero. We also had Mercedes, but as it was accessible by train, didn't really count as "campo."

The missionaries out in Chivilcoy, Junin and Bragado might as well have been in a different mission, for all we saw of them.