{"id":5589,"date":"2026-07-20T08:26:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5589"},"modified":"2026-07-20T08:26:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:26:53","slug":"it-seemed-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/it-seemed-good\/","title":{"rendered":"It Seemed Good"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>


It\u2019s amazing how many interesting historical events have been impacted by the flip of a coin.

In 1845, Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove decided that a coin flip \u2013 actually, the best two out of three \u2013 should determine who got to name their new settlement in Oregon. Pettygrove won. \u201cPortland!\u201d he declared. If things had gone Lovejoy\u2019s way, the thriving city along the Columbia River would have been known as Boston. \u00a0

Speaking of Portland, the Trail Blazers had the second pick in the 1984 NBA draft. The top brass favored two players. Which one should they pick? General manager Stu Inman flipped a coin. As a result, they chose Sam Bowie \u2013 a fine basketball player.

If only that coin had landed on the other side. The Chicago Bulls had the third pick in the draft. They selected Portland\u2019s other choice: Michael Jordan.

When it was time for the Beatles to release their first single in 1962, producer George Martin wanted the song \u201cHow Do You Do It\u201d to be featured on the record\u2019s A-side. The Fab Four pushed for \u201cLove Me Do.\u201d They flipped a coin. John, Paul, George, and Ringo won. Thank goodness.

Just because you win a coin flip doesn\u2019t mean you end up first. \u00a0

On December 14, 1903, the Wright brothers flipped a coin to decide who got to pilot the world\u2019s first flight. Wilbur won. But because he stalled the Flyer, it advanced a grand total of only 18 inches. Three days later, Orville flew into history.

In 1969, two horse breeders, Penny Chenery and Ogden Phipps, needed to determine who would assume custody of two of the foals of the legendary racehorse Bold Ruler. They flipped a silver dollar. Phipps won. Sort of. After he made his selection, Chenery was left with Option B, which turned out to be a chestnut-colored horse named Secretariat.

As far as we know, no coins were flipped in the Bible. One reason is that the Hebrews did very little minting of their own coinage, and they were repelled by the sight and touch of Greek and Roman coins \u2013 all of which typically bore the image of a king, conqueror, or Olympic deity.

To have a coin in one\u2019s hand, it was believed, violated the spirit of the second of the Ten Commandments \u2013 to acknowledge a graven image. More than a few Caesars, after all, presented themselves as divine.

Nevertheless, \u201ccasting lots\u201d was common in Bible times.

Sticks of different length, stones, or shards of pottery marked differently on opposite sides (like those in the image above), and even dice could be drawn from a container or thrown onto the ground. Since God was the managing director of everything in the universe, it was agreed that he controlled the outcome.

As Proverbs 16:33 puts it, \u201cThe lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.\u201d

Thus we see Joshua casting lots to apportion the Promised Land to the various tribes, priests drawing lots to assign periods of temple service, and the sailors on Jonah\u2019s ship using lots to discern that he was the cause of a major storm. In that case, Jonah lost the \u201ccoin toss\u201d and received a memorable opportunity to learn about fish anatomy from an inside perspective.

Nor can we forget that the Roman execution squad at the foot of Jesus\u2019 cross cast lots to see who would get to walk off with his clothes.

One of the most interesting episodes of casting lots on the pages of Scripture is also one of the most overlooked.

At the end of the first chapter of the book of Acts, Peter and the other disciples wrestle with a practical issue: Who should replace Judas? By this time, Judas \u2013 having betrayed Jesus to the Roman authorities \u2013 had taken his own life in the throes of anguish and regret. Just as there were 12 tribes in the nation of Israel, it seemed to be a given that the leadership team of the \u201cnew Israel\u201d of Christ-followers should have a dozen members.

Two candidates are put forward: Matthias and Joseph called Barsabbas. Both had known Jesus intimately. Either would be an admirable addition to the leadership core.

\u201cThen they prayed,\u00a0\u2018Lord, you know everyone\u2019s heart.\u00a0Show us\u00a0which of these two you have chosen\u00a0to take over this apostolic ministry\u2026\u2019\u00a0Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles\u201d (Acts 1:24-26).

Matthias is never mentioned in the Bible again. But what\u2019s really interesting is that something else is never mentioned in the Bible again: There is no more casting of lots.

Why not? The answer comes in the very next chapter of the book of Acts. God\u2019s Holy Spirit falls upon the entire community of believers \u2013 young and old, male and female, apostles and just plain beginning Jesus-followers. \u00a0

And from that moment on, discerning God\u2019s will becomes a matter not of throwing sticks, dice, or stones, but of combining hard thinking with humble reliance on the Holy Spirit.

The most dramatic example of this emerges from the so-called Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. A host of luminaries \u2013 including Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James the brother of Jesus, and many others \u2013 gathers to wrestle with the biggest question facing the early church: Does a Gentile first have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian?

The discussion is emotional. The exchanges get personal. A great deal is at stake.

After receiving testimonies from those \u201cout in the field\u201d evangelizing Gentiles, grappling with Old Testament texts, and hearing from those who knew Jesus well, the Council makes a decision: Gentiles are good to go in the kingdom of God, right here and right now, without first joining a synagogue or being circumcised.

Was this decision important? Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s a primary reason Christians have always worshiped on Sundays instead of Saturdays.

The letter communicating the Council\u2019s decision includes these remarkable words: \u201cIt seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us\u2026\u201d (Acts 15:28).

Think how far removed this is from casting lots.

The leaders of your church don\u2019t flip quarters to determine next year\u2019s budget, choose a new staff member, or decide how much water to use in baptism. They study and think and ask questions and fast and pray and sleep on things for a number of nights and then, sincerely inviting the Holy Spirit to have his way, make the wisest decisions possible.

We don\u2019t always get things right. But the more we practice, the more we find out what it means for something to \u201cseem good to the Holy Spirit and to us.\u201d

And it\u2019s a whole lot better than losing Secretariat to the flip of a coin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here It\u2019s amazing how many interesting historical events have been impacted by the flip of a coin. In 1845, Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove decided that a coin flip \u2013 actually, the best two out of three \u2013 should determine who got to name their new settlement in Oregon. Pettygrove won. \u201cPortland!\u201d… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1153,563,352],"class_list":["post-5589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-casting-lots","tag-discernment","tag-holy-spirit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5591,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589\/revisions\/5591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}