Everyday Miracles

I found myself in quite a predicament this last Friday morning.  My Dad and little brother were coming up for the BYU-UCLA football game here in Provo later that night but I was short one ticket.  I had been responsible for the first time in my life and early in the week set up a deal with two other students that they would give me their student passes for the weekend and in return I would give them 20 dollars.  Simple enough right?  The tickets for my family were all set until late Thursday night, one of my offers fell.  I was bummed, to say the least, and quite afraid I wouldn’t be able to get another student pass lined up.  It was the season opener and EVERYBODY seemed to be going.  It was especially a big deal for me because, besides the fact that my family and I are diehard BYU fans, I had the once in a lifetime opportunity because I had obtained the fourth spot in line, basically meaning front row seats.  I had told my dad the day before how we’d be right next to the field and not have to pay anything more than the $20 for the students passes.  I couldn’t let him down but where do I go?  I had already asked all my friends earlier in the week and only found two.  The odds were clearly not in my favor.

"All things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame."

Shortly after I found out that I would be one ticket short on Thursday night, I got into my bed, quite dejected and pulled up my Book of Mormon on my phone as I always do before falling asleep.  I couldn’t focus quite well in my state of despair but there was one line that caught my attention: "all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.”  That is when hope shined down onto my current situation.

I woke up the next day with an optimistic outlook and asked literally everyone I talked to, “Do you got any weekend plans?”  “No, not really anything big.”  “So that means you aren’t going to the game!  Do you have a student pass I could borrow?  I’m desperate, I’ll pay you twenty bucks!”  Again and again I asked and again and again I was let down.  I had asked everyone in my classes and posted a plea for help on Facebook and by the time my two classes were done for the day, I turned to texting everyone BYU student I knew again.  Still no success.  At this time, I ran into a good old friend I had lived with when I was on my two year LDS mission in Japan.  We got talking for a little bit and once I found out he knew no one who had a spare student ticket, the conversation turned to the free pizza being handed out of by the JFSB building.  So we head over there together in order to drown my sorrows with therapeutic pizza.  On the way over there, we overheard a girl talking about how she wasn’t going to the game so I abruptly turned around to ask if she had a student pass.  Finally, the time had come when I was rejected by a complete stranger.  What a surprise.

We turn our heads again towards the free pizza to only find a pile of empty boxes.  What great luck we were having!  So, we thought as rational humans and decided to relax and just stand stationary in front of the stand where free pizza had previously been given out and to drown our sorrows in normal conversation.  After a minute of idling standing by, a familiar face comes out of the basement stairs.  “Hey Ryan!  Over here!”  A good friend from high school happens to just show up magically.  Turns out, he had a student pass that he wouldn’t be using and needed money for lunch so he graciously took the $20 bill!  My Dad, my little brother and I were all able to go to the game and after camping out one night, we got to see our BYU Cougars up close in our front row seats.  We got on TV, saw many of the players up close and personal, and even were featured in a local newspaper!

You might say this was all luck that someone with a student pass he wasn’t going to use just randomly happened to cross paths with mine but I see this as the hand of God in my everyday life.  I wouldn’t have had hope to get those tickets if I hadn’t read that small passage from the Book of Mormon that night.  I wouldn’t have been actively seeking out those tickets without that hope.  I wouldn’t have run into my friend who knew about the free pizza or been at the right spot to run into Ryan unless I was uplifted by the word of God and actively was searching for a student pass.  Most times in my life things like that don’t happen that miraculously but I know that God is in my life and yours guiding and directing us as we try our best.  So look around in your life and see what things God has done for you and how you can change your life in order to receive more happiness, peace, and sense of direction, because being close to God is a lot more important than being close to the field of a football game.