By Troy Fitzgerald | FāVS News Columnist
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
This column first appeared in The Wenatchee World.
On a cold December afternoon off the coast of British Columbia, a Royal Canadian Navy sailor slipped overboard into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The water was near 49 degrees, cold enough that experts say strength and coordination can fade within minutes. Aircraft, helicopters and rescue vessels searched for more than two hours through darkness, wind and heavy swells.
In conditions like that, a single person can vanish without a trace. Then a voice came across the radio and announced, “I see a heat source on the screen.” Moments later, another report followed, “He is waving a hand! He is alive!”
As reported at the time by CBC News, the sailor was pulled from the sea and rushed to medical care after surviving more than two hours in near-freezing water, an outcome rescuers described as remarkable; most thought it was unheard of.
Officials credited training and preparation. Yet many who heard the story sensed something more. In water cold enough to steal consciousness, he endured long enough to be seen, long enough to be found, long enough to raise a hand.
Sometimes survival feels less like chance and more like mercy arriving at the right moment.
Stories like this raise deeper questions. When something unlikely happens, was it preparation, coincidence, providence, or some mixture we cannot fully explain? Some people can point to a few rare moments when God clearly intervened. Others carry an informal but long list of unanswered prayers.
Most of us live somewhere in between. We believe in God, yet we wonder how often he truly acts. Do we need miracles to sustain faith? Or can we trust him even when life unfolds in quiet and ordinary ways? Still, deep within us lives a hope that God will step into our brokenness and make himself known.
That tension between coincidence and divine action meets the idea of six degrees of separation in science. Research suggests that surprisingly short chains of relationships link any two people in the world.
In the 1960s, Stanley Milgram found that letters passed through acquaintances to reach strangers in about six steps. Later studies found similar results. Mathematical models show why. Human relationships form close circles, yet a few connections between groups shorten the distance. Modern social data suggests the gap can be even smaller.
The science of connection
A couple in California discovered this firsthand. Natalie and Colin believed they first met in college and later married. During a move they found an old preschool class photo. Both of them were in it, standing side by side more than a decade before they met again as adults.
They had lived only miles apart as children, yet never realized their lives had crossed so early. Friends and family called it an astonishing coincidence. For them it felt like something more.
That simple photograph became a reminder that, sometimes, life weaves threads long before we see the pattern.
When we read the book of Acts, we see relationships that are more than chance but meetings shaped by God’s guidance, timing and purpose.
Cornelius, a Roman centurion, receives an angelic message telling him to send for Peter. At the same time, Peter receives a vision that prepares him to welcome Gentiles. When they meet, Peter says, “God has shown me.”
Two separate revelations become one shared mission.
After Saul meets Christ on the Damascus road, the Lord speaks to Ananias and gives him a name and address. Saul has already seen Ananias coming in a vision. Their obedience leads to healing and calling. God says of Saul, “He is my chosen instrument.”
In each story, God prepares both sides of the meeting. These are not random crossings. They are relationships joined by divine intention.
Scripture shows how meetings become meaningful. The wonder is not simply that people meet. The wonder is when timing, truth and changed hearts come together.
What do we do with this?
Think about the people you notice this week. The stranger in line. The acquaintance you ran into. The person whose path crossed yours for only a moment. Each life carries purpose and story. Sometimes we meet someone again years later and realize our paths had crossed before. We begin to wonder whether it was a coincidence or quiet providence.
Does this still happen today? Yes, I believe it does. God often works through the ordinary architecture of relationships. Our part is simple. Pay attention. Welcome the connections placed before us. Test what we sense with humility. Then follow where truth leads.
Perhaps the real question is not whether God still works. It is whether we are awake enough to notice when coincidence becomes calling.
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