What If?
A few years ago, I went up to my sister and asked her a crazy, hypothetical question beginning with the words "What if..." Although I can't remember the exact question, it was something that clearly had little to no chance of ever happening. Naturally, she answered it right back with "What if?" Over the years, it has become an inside joke between us where we will send one another these crazy "what if" questions, usually involving ourselves or another family member. For giggles and grins, here's an example "what if" question my sister, a marathon runner, has said before: what if I were running in a marathon and our grandma passed me at the finish line?
Although the "what if" questions my sister and I ask each other are admittedly over-the-top and unrealistic, we still have a lot of fun asking each other them. In reality, more realistic "what if" questions are posed all the time about historical events, sporting events, and even our own lives (past or future). Heck, when I took creative writing classes in college and we read a peer's story, one thing we were asked to do was come up with what ifs for the story to help them out when making story revisions.
Posing these "what if" questions and wondering how different history would have unfolded or how different our lives would be can be fun to think about. What if the U.S. had lost the Revolutionary War? What if the stock market never crashed in 1929? One can look at countless historical events and wonder how different the world would be today if things had turned out a little differently. In sports, journalists like to ask these questions all the time. What if the Seattle Seahawks had run the ball at the 1-yard line in Super Bowl 49 instead of infamously passing it? What if the USSR had won the 1980 Winter Olympics men's hockey game against the U.S.?
On a more personal level, we can look back in our own lives and wonder how different they'd be if things broke a little differently. These can be defining moments in our lives such as "what if I had gone to different school" or something as simple as "what if I had studied more for that exam". For me, I have posed that college question before: what if I hadn't gone to Baylor? What if I had gone to Alabama (my 2nd choice at the time) instead? I ask that not out of regret, but out of curiosity. I can't even begin to imagine what my life would look like today or where I'd even be if I had made that decision. There's a lot of great people I never would have met and a lot of great adventures that never would have happened -- both at Baylor and now in Houston. What if I hadn't tried out for track in 6th grade? In that instance, it's still possible I would have gotten into running at some point (mainly because my sister is a runner herself), but that also means the fun times I had doing cross country in high school never may have happened.
It is amazing to think how everything has had to break the way it has for us to be where we are today at this moment in time. One different decision or outcome here and there, and our lives are completely different. That's pretty crazy to think about. When I am reminded that we are where we are today based on countless outcomes that could have gone a different way, I think that speaks to the power of God and His plan for each of us. There are so many different outcomes that can arise from minute decisions. The reason everything has occurred the way it has is because it was all in God's plan.
While most "what if" questions are asked after the fact, we can ask these questions with the future in mind. What if the Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl next year? What if Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson does one day run for President -- and get elected? What if I buy a lottery ticket in 6 months and win the jackpot?
When doing what ifs, the truth is that we'll never know what would have happened and how different our lives would be today (if it is a past-oriented what if). We can speculate, but we'll never know for sure. And in the event that what-if is future-oriented, there's no guarantee it will ever materialize. However, sometimes imagining and playing out those scenarios on our own is all we really need. It's the beauty of simply asking "what if...?"
Although the "what if" questions my sister and I ask each other are admittedly over-the-top and unrealistic, we still have a lot of fun asking each other them. In reality, more realistic "what if" questions are posed all the time about historical events, sporting events, and even our own lives (past or future). Heck, when I took creative writing classes in college and we read a peer's story, one thing we were asked to do was come up with what ifs for the story to help them out when making story revisions.
Posing these "what if" questions and wondering how different history would have unfolded or how different our lives would be can be fun to think about. What if the U.S. had lost the Revolutionary War? What if the stock market never crashed in 1929? One can look at countless historical events and wonder how different the world would be today if things had turned out a little differently. In sports, journalists like to ask these questions all the time. What if the Seattle Seahawks had run the ball at the 1-yard line in Super Bowl 49 instead of infamously passing it? What if the USSR had won the 1980 Winter Olympics men's hockey game against the U.S.?
On a more personal level, we can look back in our own lives and wonder how different they'd be if things broke a little differently. These can be defining moments in our lives such as "what if I had gone to different school" or something as simple as "what if I had studied more for that exam". For me, I have posed that college question before: what if I hadn't gone to Baylor? What if I had gone to Alabama (my 2nd choice at the time) instead? I ask that not out of regret, but out of curiosity. I can't even begin to imagine what my life would look like today or where I'd even be if I had made that decision. There's a lot of great people I never would have met and a lot of great adventures that never would have happened -- both at Baylor and now in Houston. What if I hadn't tried out for track in 6th grade? In that instance, it's still possible I would have gotten into running at some point (mainly because my sister is a runner herself), but that also means the fun times I had doing cross country in high school never may have happened.
It is amazing to think how everything has had to break the way it has for us to be where we are today at this moment in time. One different decision or outcome here and there, and our lives are completely different. That's pretty crazy to think about. When I am reminded that we are where we are today based on countless outcomes that could have gone a different way, I think that speaks to the power of God and His plan for each of us. There are so many different outcomes that can arise from minute decisions. The reason everything has occurred the way it has is because it was all in God's plan.
While most "what if" questions are asked after the fact, we can ask these questions with the future in mind. What if the Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl next year? What if Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson does one day run for President -- and get elected? What if I buy a lottery ticket in 6 months and win the jackpot?
When doing what ifs, the truth is that we'll never know what would have happened and how different our lives would be today (if it is a past-oriented what if). We can speculate, but we'll never know for sure. And in the event that what-if is future-oriented, there's no guarantee it will ever materialize. However, sometimes imagining and playing out those scenarios on our own is all we really need. It's the beauty of simply asking "what if...?"
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