Thursday, February 24, 2005

Musings on God, Automobiles and the Taxman.

Well first the Good News! I managed to get one over on the Inland Revenue!

Basically they've been overcharging me for about a year now, but they've finally seen it my way and so this month i don't have to pay income tax and I get a little bit back as rebate.

However... now the bad news! My car gets serviced tomorrow. It's overdue anyway, but there is a distinct rattling in the front nearside wheel... probably just a bush... hopefully not the wheel coming off. I always get pessimistic about this sort of stuff... I'm convinced I'll need all new tyres and an exhaust, the current ones have been on for years, yet have miraculously remained roadworthy!!!!!!

I wouldn't be at all surprised, if the bill for the car hits somewhere in the region of the amount I got back from the tax office.

Have you ever seen Signs? I really enjoyed it. A lot of sci-fi fans think it's quite poor... but I think they miss the point. The film is not actually a science fiction... it merely uses science fiction as a vehicle to get the real message across. That message is best summed up in a question Mel Gibson's character asks Joaquin Phoenix:

"See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences? "


I personally don't really believe in coincidence... I believe even the seemingly random events that happen in the world happen for a greater purpose, albeit not a purpose we can always understand. It's a bit like chaos theory... you know, everything appears just haphazard and unplanned but if you look closely patterns do emerge.

Here's a clip from the climax of Signs that illustrates that point quite beautifully:


That's why I believe that things have worked out the way they have. I think God knew I
wouldn't be able to pay for my car under normal circumstances, so events that seemed annoying a year ago have worked to my favour in the end.... thanks to his grace and his planning. Well that's the way I see it.

And so I'll leave you now, with that same question:

"See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences? "

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