Butterfly Effect: Is it God?

Matthew Henry
Nov 8 · 5 min read

Setting the stage: I know most of my very good and close friends would call this “God”. I’ve been challenged as I get older with the question: do we call a circumstance “God did it” or “God told me” when something happens to us for our perceived good? We elevate ourselves to a privileged position, a “win” over thinking, wow, God did this for me, what has he done for you.

I’ve been challenged over and over again in recent months especially as I moved away from a “God did it” organization (gdi) to social justice work. In the gdi organization, it seemed like everyday you would be guided into a competition for how many examples of positive “God did it” situations you could encounter to satisfy a human longing for defining God. Is God defined by our stories of “good” (of course, everything works together for good to those that love God, right? [Romans 8:28]). Those “answers to pray” that I was late to church and all the lights were green, wow God blessed me, didn’t he? What about everyone else in the church leaving on time and hitting every light red and getting there late, did God bless them?


In my new role, working day in and day out with coworkers who have become friends that have 100 different versions of “God”. Coming from all sorts of backgrounds, Christian, Hindu, Agnostic, why, some don’t even celebrate Christmas! What is this God thing?

I’m going to call this the “butterfly effect”. I would encourage you to talk about it in these terms as well. Don’t jump to conclusions that you are so bold to begin to know that God did something or God is blessing or cursing you. I’d like to begin sharing stories from across the human experience as examples of this “butterfly effect”. In fact, those of you that believe in God, please, call this effect God. However, don’t use your story in any way to place yourself on a pedestal above another human. Use your story to celebrate your vision of God, the Universe, Fate, whatever you choose to call him or her. After all, the human sitting next to you in the subway is a human as well loved by a higher being in ways unimaginable and unexplainable to all of us.


Here’s a story from this week.

I ride the subway every day. This morning, on the VRE (Virginia Railroad Express another “non-subway” train), a tree fell, yes, a random tree (the butterfly). This random tree stopped the VRE from coming into the city (DC). Mike decided to take a Lyft over to the Vienna station, where I get on. I was leaving 30 minutes earlier than I ever do because of meetings that had been scheduled over a month ago for this day. On the subway, there are six car trains and an eight car trains. We don’t like the six car train because that causes the first car to get full too fast. But, that was the car today, so disappointing! Why can’t a butterfly effect happen every morning to bring me the eight car train?.

So this morning, when I got to the station, the car was almost full. I found my favorite seat though, by the window. About three minutes later this guy [I know him as Mike after this story], comes on and sits down right beside me (we always just sit by each other and never talk, that’s subway workday etiquette after all!). I had my head phones on, listening to a podcast. Mike leans over and asked a question. I couldn’t hear him, so turned off my podcast and asked him, sorry, I didn’t hear you. He asked if this was the Orange line? I said yes. I quickly turned my podcast back on and was committed to honor the workday subway etiquette thing. A voice in my head said, hey, you’ve got many days to listen to your precious podcast list, talk to this guy. Yes, everyone around you will think your strange for talking to a stranger, but they’ll get over it! I fought with this in my head but made the excuse, especially since Mike had a suitcase with him, he must be new to the area so he may need some help. So, I turned my podcast back off and asked him, where are you going? He said, Court House, the same place I get off I told him. As my mind raced to ask non-probing, getting to know you questions I couldn’t believe the heart wrenching story that was unfolding there in our space as the train sped down the tracks. Mike told me his fiancé died three weeks and two days ago, yes, he is keeping track. He told his story of selling his home, quitting his job, getting a new job in the DC area and preparing for the wedding. He even told how he knew she had cancer but they still loved each other so much they moved forward with getting married. They were hoping they would at least be able to get married before cancer took it’s horrible course.


Those who know me, know my wife died of cancer now 22 years ago. As I sat there listening to Mike tell of his heart breaking story, I just exploded inside. How did the tree fall, the train get delayed, the Lyft take a road, the six car train get chosen and that seat by the window (I had looked, it was the only seat by the window, remember my favorite), all happen to lead to Mike sitting by another person who had experienced exactly what Mike had experienced?

I quickly told him my story both the experience of crying, yelling at God, getting angry, giving up and then the unbelievable bringing together of the wife I have now [another butterfly effect story]. We are planning on meeting again because he works down the street from me.


I know, my friends read this and say, yep, this is God, this is how He works? Is it? What about when “bad” things happen, like the death of these two people in Mike and my life? Was this God as well? I know for me, people asked me what my first wife had done wrong for God to take her so early in her life. That can’t be how God works, right?

And of course, for me, there was last week when our water heater went out. That was a bad thing, right? No, that too was a good thing. I’ll detail that sometime in the future.


What are your stories of the butterfly effect?

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