Who Do You Think Sent The Rowboat, Idiot?

I am a big fan of that story about the guy on the roof calling for God to save him from drowning in the flood. You know the one. He doesn't go when the rowboat comes past and he waves away the helicopter that throws down the rope ladder, and when he asks God why He still hasn't come to save him God says, "Who do you think sent the rowboat and the helicopter?" The signs for your rescue are everywhere (such as, with me, my new friendships, the concern my work colleagues showed for me yesterday, that Zim girl's question Are you lonely???-- or J., who said to me on holiday Are you sure you want a solitary life, or are you just running away from something? ) The trick is to learn how to see these signs, and read their meaning. The universe may be a coincidence that turns on a pivot of chance, but if you give love you receive it, and what else do we have crammed into our leaky rowboat? Which is the other thing surer than eggs are eggs: as desperate as you are to be rescued from the lashing waters, there are a hundred million other people calling to God from rooftops of their own.