Destiny or Predistination

 lifespot

Destiny

By Janet An Braza

This calls up the idea of fate, which is inexorable and unalterable. Hence, the number of men predestinated to life and of foreordained to death is so certain and definite—a thing that cannot be altered.

In some contexts, the word “destiny” may also convey the most fixed and unalterable of fates, while in another it may be the attainment of a journey's end.

What will follow then is an incident that best exemplifies destiny:

Despite the heavy rain that flooded the streets, a young man wearing a white dress demanded the taxi driver to hurry so he could catch up for the debut party of his childhood friend. He could not miss this party. Just for this event he spent many nights looking at himself before a mirror rehearsing.

“I must be her first dance, and we should be friends forever!” he murmured looking at his watch. It was already 8 o’clock in the evening. Her party could have started already.

Traffic was so heavy. The streets were noisy. The driver, in his 50’s, drove his yellow cab to many humps and bumps, blowing his horn now emitting a dull sound.  

The driver found a chance to make a detour, and so he revved up along the blind alley to the highway. Then, all of a sudden, he could no longer hear the sound of the motorists. Was it because of the rain that bathed his cold body?

With eyes closed, he saw the young man dashing to the gate of the debutante’s house. And yet the young man was not welcomed inside, as if nobody noticed him. He saw his passenger wearing a red dress this time. “Why was there a sudden change in the color of his suit?” In the party, he also saw his daughter there wearing a pale face and was very sad. Why was her girl there, too? What for? He could not find a reason.

Now, he could no longer see the young man; he did not know where he went. Then he remembered that his daughter was in the hospital scheduled for an appendicitis operation. He had to speed up. He had to be there at her side before the doctors could inject her anesthesia, or even before they sliced open her belly. He promised that he would be there bringing her the Lego she had been wanting for so long before her mother died of pneumonia. He saw his girl’s lifeless smile on her face when he left the ward. His vision dimmed—a total blackout!

Police cars and ambulance arrived in the scene. Some kibitzers gave way. A smoked yellow cab was dragged away from the highway—smashed—a young passenger stuck inside, while the cab’s driver was lying flat on the road with his eyes closed.

Was it a mere accident? Or was it pure destiny? The answer is not yours to make. For you, too, have your own.

The sacrifice of Jesus in the cross is His Destiny.