Here’s a story about a young British soldier serving in Afghanistan who claims his rosary beads saved his life. He was on patrol when the beads broke. He bent down to pick them up only to see that right in front of his foot was a landmine. Had he gone one step further he would ahve ben blown to bits.

It reminds me of the story in Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honor trilogy when Guy Crouchback says that the St Christopher medal didn’t save his brother from dying in the first world war. Old Crouchback disagrees, “You see, your brother came to see me the night before he left for the front to say good bye. He told me that he and some other soldiers went to a brothel the week before and a girl sat on his lap and began to unbutton his shirt. She discovered the St Christopher medal and said, “Are you a Catholic?” he said he was and the girls said, “Let’s just go for a walk instead.” So you see the St Christopher medal did save his life.”

Well, the Waugh story is fictional, but when you walk by faith you begin to see that God’s providence does work through life in a mysterious and tangential way. All things do work together for good for those who love God and who are called acccording to his purpose. (Rom. 8:28) but it’s rarely clear just how that happens. The life of faith is therefore an adventure–we step out and go with God, and we will only see the whole picture one day in the distant future when all things are suddenly crystal.