Back on Groundhog Day of this year, I blogged about running into folks. Well, there's a new incidence of this occurrence. If you read this blog, you are likely aware that we were in England for 2 weeks this month. One of my opportunities was to travel from Newcastle, England to Sunderland University to give my talk on Evidence of G^d in Human Physiology.
We had arrived on Monday, and it had started snowing and it snowed off and on most of Monday, and was snowing a bit on Tuesday when I hiked the mile or so from our hotel to the train station. I remembered a bit about the University, since Professor Dave had set me up with a talk there in 2015, when we were last there. Dave had agreed to meet me at the train platform at Sunderland U a bit after 11 AM. I wanted to be a bit early, in case I got lost or missed a train or something, so I headed out a bit early.
Everything went smoothly, and I got my ticket and got on the platform just in time for the next train. I randomly picked a car, and saw an empty seat about halfway down the aisle. I knew I had a few minutes to ride and no one else wanted to seat so I plopped down. Just as I did, the stranger across the aisle asked, "Are you Dr. Bishop?"
Yes indeed!. With all the trains, all the cars, all the seats, I had sat down across from Prof. Dave, who recognized me from a picture.
So, what are the odds? Well, the odds of any particular occurrence of running into someone like this half-way around the world is very, very small. But, likewise, it doesn't really happen very often, so of all the possibilities, it happens about as often as the odds would predict.
But, it is still neat, and I thank G^d for these little coincidences. Of course, these aren't random, and the statistical odds matter little. G^d is sovereign over schedules, trains, train-cars, and seats.
And that is neat!
We had arrived on Monday, and it had started snowing and it snowed off and on most of Monday, and was snowing a bit on Tuesday when I hiked the mile or so from our hotel to the train station. I remembered a bit about the University, since Professor Dave had set me up with a talk there in 2015, when we were last there. Dave had agreed to meet me at the train platform at Sunderland U a bit after 11 AM. I wanted to be a bit early, in case I got lost or missed a train or something, so I headed out a bit early.
Everything went smoothly, and I got my ticket and got on the platform just in time for the next train. I randomly picked a car, and saw an empty seat about halfway down the aisle. I knew I had a few minutes to ride and no one else wanted to seat so I plopped down. Just as I did, the stranger across the aisle asked, "Are you Dr. Bishop?"
Yes indeed!. With all the trains, all the cars, all the seats, I had sat down across from Prof. Dave, who recognized me from a picture.
So, what are the odds? Well, the odds of any particular occurrence of running into someone like this half-way around the world is very, very small. But, likewise, it doesn't really happen very often, so of all the possibilities, it happens about as often as the odds would predict.
But, it is still neat, and I thank G^d for these little coincidences. Of course, these aren't random, and the statistical odds matter little. G^d is sovereign over schedules, trains, train-cars, and seats.
And that is neat!
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