I was in an Elders Quorum today listening to the lesson on the prophet Joseph Smith. President Kimball said, "God does nothing by chance, but always by design as a loving father."
A member of the quorum interjected a thought to ponder. He is a computer programmer and claimed that with all of our understanding and the amazing capability of technology that we have not been able to produce something as simple as a truly random number. Several algorithms have been written in an attempt to approximate the production of a random number but each number is ultimately based on a provided number and therefore is not random. For example, if a random number generator is based upon a computer's system date and time then every request for a random number issued at the same time and date will produce the same number... that is not random.
If we do not have the capability to do something as seemingly simple as create a random number at will... why do we think that we have sufficient knowledge to govern our lives to salvation? We need God. And His mouthpiece is His prophet.
Is it chance or design that a prophet speaks to us today? Is it chance that he talked last conference about being slow to anger? Or is that really what the Lord wanted us to hear... and heed? What implications are there to the message about the stone cut out of the mountain? Chance or design... and if by design what principle or doctrine is contained in his message that 
I must learn?
I must learn?It is not by chance that Nephi prepared a second set of plates to prepare against the eventual loss of 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript. It is not chance that a printing press allowed all mankind to read the Bible. It is not chance that Joseph Smith was born in a country that allowed for religious freedom.
It is not by chance that we have a prophet that speaks today. If there is a "random element" to all of this it is this. Will I listen?
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Hi everyone. Here is an experience in my life that at first appeared to be by chance but with time would reveal multiple divine interventions.
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PART 1
After months of unsuccessfully trying to secure a job that would support my family before our first child was born, I saw a book on a library shelf about grantwriting. Drawn to it, I checked it out and started reading it with no prior experience in grantwriting. By the time I finished the book, I had a job as a grantwriter. Ohhhh...and I started a week after Hannah was born.
PART
The job was in downtown San Diego. With only one car, I would have had to leave Colleen home all day without any transportation. But, the condo we had moved into when we got married happened to be a block away from the end of the trolley line. My new office was only a block and 1/2 away from a downtown trolley stop. Problem solved.
PART 3
I soon started a Masters program in school psychology. While completing coursework, I wondered how I was going to finish an unpaid practicum that was required at the end of the program and be able to support a family (wife and two kids). When I discussed the matter with my boss at the grantwriting job, he graciously let me take the mornings off to complete practicum hours without a cut in salary.
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OVERVIEW
Before I knew it, God knew I would be a school psychologist.
But, before I could be a school psychologist, He needed to find a job for me that would be flexible enough to let me complete practicum hours. So He found me a grantwriting job in downtown San Diego.
But, before I could work at the job he found for me, He needed to train me in grantwriting. So, He made sure I saw that book in the library.
But, before I found that book in the library, He knew I would need a way to get to work. So, He made sure my first apartment was next to the trolley a year before I started the job.
Just as God prepared the small plates for Joseph Smith thousands of years prior to the time Joseph needed them, God has divinely prepared for me the things I’ve needed.
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