Black Swan Event

Sounds like some new age trend right?

But it's not. Well maybe the phrase is, but in this context it's not. No one thought black swans existed because no one had ever seen one. White swans were the paradigm. White swans were the plausibility structure. How could it exist if we haven't seen it?

This is the way we live, right?. Safe. Possible. So very human. We come to God with our small boxes and say fill it please. But when He looks at our boxes and demolishes them because what He gives is so much greater, we get confused, scared, angry even.

Poor God. All He wants is to bless and give, but we give Him so little room. That's why expanding our tents is so necessary. We must expand to accommodate a big God.

And then there are times when we are so starved for something miraculous that we take something we have done, something wholly human and say, God did this! It's a miracle. That too limits God.

Poor God again. This too is a form of unbelief because we attribute our human doings to a miraculous God. There's a way in which, you can get that job or get that relationship or get well without it being a miracle. Of course, everything is God's grace. Everything. But not everything is a black swan.

A black swan is something unprecedented. Unexpected. It's something that has absolute no basis in human logic. It is something based entirely on the Spirit, but at the same time, relevant in the natural world. It's the exception.

It's something from the OTHER SIDE. It cannot at any point be attributed to one human action. It is a result of God, by His mercy, dropping a sliver of His ineffable power on His planet and breaking every box, every expectation, every false label, transcending every disappointment, and rubbing out every cause for unbelief.

This is a black swan event. It is completely dependent on a God who initiates it and sustains it.

Getting into UCLA, passing the NCLEX, working for Kaiser, these are all God's graces, but these are not black swan events.

I thought I had experienced my black swan event in my family. And I did. God came from the Other Side and healed my parents in ways unimaginable.

And on May 6, 2011, I experienced my second black swan event. It's an out-of-body experience really when you realize you are literally surrounded by nothing familiar, except God's agenda and mighty ways.

We serve a God of Black Swan Events. He LOVES these. In my infantile view of God, I thought I was only allowed one. But God is not stingy. He is not small. And He is more than generous.

Wait for it. Don't pretend other things are black swans because you are scared you'll never experience it. God gives freely and abundantly in His timing.

Wait for it. Praise God in hopeful expectation. It is about timing, not about possibility.

You will know when it happens to you. You won't even feel real. You'll feel carried. You'll feel weightless. You will soar.

Here's to a year of Black Swan Events. We aren't even half way done with 2011...this is exciting!!!

P.S. Black swans were discovered in Perth, Australia in the 18th century. =)