I Almost Won The Lotto

As I'm writing. the multi-state lottery amount is up to $540 million.  The time to buy tickets is over and someone may or may not hit the big jackpot tonight.  A guy on TV at about 6:30 tonight said that the after tax haul would be about $234 million, which sparked my interest because I once prayed for $234 million.  It was a number that popped in my head some years ago after I thought that if I could pray for any specific amount of money then I might as well pray for - How much? - $234 million.

There is a big lottery billboard that I pass on the way to work and it gives the running jackpots for both the Michigan lotto and the multi-state lotto.  When I pass it I've prayed, Lord if the time is right let me know and I'll plop down a buck or two at the corner gas station.  He hasn't yet said the time is right but when I heard that TV guy say "$234 million" I thought, hmm, maybe that's a sign.

I was about to get off my butt and drive a few blocks to a local lotto outlet when I remembered another guy on TV say yesterday that my odds of getting hit by lightning were 1000 times greater than winning the big bucks.  The odds of course would not be a problem for God and the odds of winning are obviously zero per cent if you don't play, but apart from the number being right I didn't have a strong feeling about it and I was a little worried about that lightning.

Thinking about the odds and getting hit by lightning I remembered something I heard on the radio earlier this week.  In 1859 there was something called a "Coronal Mass Ejection" or CME for short.  An English astronomer by the name of Carrington spotted flashes of intense light coming from some sun spots and 17 hours later the Earth was hit.  The night skies were lit up by intense Aurora lights and so much energy was transferred via telegraph wires that one guy had a arch of fire that jumped from his head to the telegraph equipment.  If we got hit by the same thing today it would take out all of our satellites, destroy most of our power grid, ruin anything electronic, cost trillions of dollars and leave us without communication and power for years.  The odds of another Carrington Event are thousands of times higher than me cashing in my $234 million.

Well, good luck to you guys who have those hot tickets.  If you win please buy me some candles and a box or two of freeze dried food.