"Look what the universe did for me!"  Have you ever heard someone say this?  Though I'm not always sure what a person means when she puts things this way, I find it curious that, more often than not, I hear it from a person who does not believe in God.  A person who doesn't want God to interfere with her life, a person who feels no need to trust anything bigger than herself.

    Sure, I am well aware of the numerous difficulties that attend a belief in destiny, foreknowledge, or predestination.  No argument there.  Yet it seems that to invoke the universe as an agent is doing no more than substituting an impersonal presence for a personal one as an explanation of agency in our lives.  It really doesn't solve the problem of a world in which physical laws juxtapose with human choice.
     
     We can accept that life is entirely random, yes, but then we must also accept that we are, too.  And I wonder whether, when push comes to shove, anyone really can.