Fortune cookie

Somebody here had Chinese take out last night and left me a fortune cookie. Even the most jaded of us loves a fortune cookie, and the most unsuperstitious of us cannot resist extracting its contents. Mine says: "Turbulence is a life force. It is opportunity. Let's love turbulence and use it for change." On the back side are my lucky numbers: 16, 8, 6, 42, 29, 15.

OK, I guess "turbulence" is a cousin to "crisis," which we all heard in fifth grade is written with the same Chinese character as "opportunity." Everybody, from every faith, is groping at some profound truth there, like the six blind men of Hindustan and the elephant. As a Christian reading this fortune, I am immediately struck with its facsimile to biblical teaching about suffering as God's school for spiritual maturity (Romans 5:3). And with a mystery even deeper, about how the death of a perfect victim neutralizes a curse (Colossians 1:21-22, Hebrews 9:22).

I feel a little sad, though, whenever I read a fortune cookie. There is never any person there. It's always about some impersonal force: "turbulence" or "luck." That's the difference between me and the people who write these sayings and who live by them. They believe that in back of all the personal goings on we see in the world, there lies an impersonal force; I believe that behind all the "impersonal" forces is a Person. As a result, I live in a much more happy place than they, because I am a person and ultimate reality is a Person. That works. I can be on speaking terms with ultimate reality. I would hate to live in a universe where I am a higher life form than God. It would be really lonely.

Do you think those are my lucky numbers just today or every day?

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.