The true story of my close encounter with God

If you read what Im about to write or listen to my story you might be inclined to think I have quite an imagination, but I had a close encounter with GOD.

I tell you the truth when I say that He sent me signs. That was my burning-bush experience!!! I just had to ask Him to forgive me, and my new life began... So now I'm a believer! But... how did that happen?

September 2001 - When God changed my plans

I was doing well in a third division club, the coach liked me, and maybe I would have made it to second division in a couple years (or so I hoped) but as you will see, God had different plans for me. Trust me, it was God. You’ll see.

My dad decided that we should leave the country because violence was hitting too close to home. He told us we would flee to the US. It was obvious for all of us that he was right, so we all agreed. The trip was delayed for a week because of the attacks of 9/11 and airports were closed, but when flights resumed our immigration was successful and we were granted political asylum. We settled down in a small city called Aventura, in the greater Miami area.

Football was my only passion and I thought I would find the way to keep playing in Miami. I visited the Miami Fusion (one of two Major League Soccer teams based in Florida), but a few days later the Fusion declared itself bankrupt and dissapeared. That was the beggining of my worries because there were no second or third division teams in the whole state. That left only one MLS team in Florida: the Tampa Mutiny.

I didnt even get to visit the city of Tampa, because the Mutiny also declared bankrupcy and dissapeared. It all happened pretty much at the same time, so fast! Suddenly the whole state of Florida had no proffesional soccer. I couldnt believe my bad luck but I would not give up: even if the whole universe conspired against me, I would persevere because soccer was all that mattered to me. My last chance was college soccer.

December 2002 - This cant be a coincidence!

Only one school in Miami had a team participating in the highest level of college soccer, and it was FIU, the city´s public university. I decided to enroll for a master in sports management. At the end of 2002 I was admitted and I went straight to the soccer coach. He didnt give me much hope but he did suggest I should come for the tryouts next month. He didn’t know I was a great player, but I intended to show him soon enough.

Next month came and I cant tell you how great my dissapointment was when I learned there would be no tryouts. FIU announced that because of a budget-cut the school would eliminate the boys soccer team. (The girls team would go on but what could I do? shave my legs and wear a wig?). There were big protests because boys soccer was the only team FIU ever had at the top level of college sports... and it was a winning team!

It was so absurd that I just couldnt believe it. It made no sense but it was happening... everywhere I went, soccer disappeared and now I was out of options. What to do now? Maybe try another state, but I had already paid college tuition and I had also found a job at a gym.

In spite of all I would see it as just coincidence and I refused to accept that my destiny was to renounce my only passion. One blow after another had me quite depressed, yet I decided to keep trying at any cost.

Having no choice, and trying to stay in shape, I practiced with the best amateur team around, with other frustrated players who found no place to develop their skills. I needed more soccer to fill my days, so I volunteered to coach for an under-16 team. I got the job, so I would set up training exercises and games where I would run and practice more than the kids themselves.

I also joined a hispanic jew (from Argentina) and we created a soccer academy called “Soccer Paradise” in the city of Aventura. We had about a hundred students, most of them jewish from argentina. There I coached another U-16 team.

One day after practice, another coach invited me to play a little game with some of his buddies. I was inclined to pass because I hadnt taped my ankles, (which I always did for protection) but I was so eager to play that I told myself: “oh, its just a friendly game”.

One of those guys was not so “friendly” and he slide-tackled me in such a horrible way that he destroyed my right ankle. The doctor said it was impossible to perform surgery, so all I got was a cast, crutches and painkillers. I realized that it was the end of my soccer career.

That injury changed my life forever (but I didnt know at the time that it would be for the better).

April 2003 - The first sign

News media all over the world were reporting Dr.Collins' incredible feat of revealing the complete human genome, a sophisticaded code he called "The language of God". That is enough to get you thinking about the existence of a Creator. In my case, there was more.

Somebody said that the right book at the right time can shake your world . Well, I was reading this book called "Left Behind" where a skeptic character (like me) asks God for a sign that He is real. Everything I read really got me thinking and wondering, and the question going around my head was: “What if?”

So I did like the skeptic character in the book. I had never prayed, but I asked God to show me that He really exists, and if he was listening, to send me a sign.

A couple days later I was cleaning my mailbox of all the advertising stuff (you know, that big load of paper that´s always covering the real mail and by real mail I mean bills). So I was throwing away all the discount offers and coupons when a bright blue card bigger than a postcard flew apart, falling to the floor. I said to myself: “that´s gotta be a vip pass to some club in south beach”, therefore I picked it up with great interest.

Upon closer inspection I noticed that it was something special indeed. The blue side of it said: “A place where Miracles happen, and life changing experiences occur”. It also had an address: “Palmetto and 67 Avenue”

I was a little surprised. I was wondering if that bright blue card could be the sign from God, but I quickly dismissed it. I thought: “This is just a coincidence. Surely God’s sign would not come in the form of a postcard”. (I was hoping for something amazing and supernatural like a burning bush, but I would get some supernatural stuff later).

So I did not believe it, and I did not go to the address printed in the card. It would take more to convince me.

So i had decided that the blue card was a coincidence, but the question of the existence of God was still on my mind, so I asked everybody about Him, I wanted to hear opinions. I found out most people avoided the subject and some simply didnt know what to say.

3 or 4 weeks went by and I had pretty much forgotten about the card with the printed address (Palmetto and 67th Avenue).

April 19 2003 - The second sign

If people wouldnt even talk about God, how would I learn anything? I didnt have a copy of the Bible. I guess I could have done some research on the web or something, but I didnt.

On the evening of that Saturday, I asked Pita, my stepmother (her name is Alexandra but we call her Pita, i dont know why) if she believed in God. She replied:

-Of course I believe in GOD!

That surprised me, because she never went to a religious service. Then I asked her another question that burned in my mind:

-What about the Messiah?

-Well, I dont know what to think about that, because my jewish friends say one thing, but my christian friends say something else.

I told her I had a few questions about the Scriptures, but she said she wasnt the right person, and she suggested that I talked to her grandma because she had read the whole Book. I said:

-Your grandma! No way, I want to talk with a young person, and even better if its someone who has studied the scriptures, someone with academic knowledge of evidence and stuff.

-Well, now that you mention it, there is a young preacher here in Miami, he has master or phd degrees in theology, and you know what? He was a professional soccer player.

-A soccer player? Really?

-Sure, he played in some famous teams, and he also played with Maradona and the argentinian national team. I think he also has a soccer club here in Miami.

That was all I needed to hear, I just had to meet this guy. We would talk about God or we would talk about soccer. I asked:

-Why didnt you tell me about him before?

-It just didnt occur to me. You want to meet him? I´ll introduce you, we´ll go to his place tomorrow. Let me bring you the address – Pita said.

She came back with a little piece of paper and handed it to me. It had the address handwritten on it. The paper said: “Palmetto and 67th Avenue”. I was amazed. The address she wrote was the same of the bright blue card!!! My heart was beating faster... Could it be the same place? Could this be another coincidence?

I told Pita about my asking God for a sign, then receiving the odd card in the mail, and now this address for the football-star preacher being the same address of the card... I told her that this was too much to be a coincidence. She replied:

-Nothing in life is coincidence. God is knocking at your door.

What do u think? Could I continue to be skeptical after that? Sure, I guess, but then I thought: "What are the odds"?

So I drove home considering all the things that had happened ... and as i was driving, i took my leap of faith and I prayed, and I said: “Thank you LORD, for answering”.

When I got home, with tears on my eyes I felt the urge to pray and talk to God about so many things that opressed my soul. I knelt and I asked the two most important questions I could think of, and guess what? I got answers!!!

I cant explain everything that happened, but I promise that I’ll try. I told God that I believed and then I began asking forgiveness for my skepticism, for my sins, my mistakes, my doubts, forgiveness for having chosen the easy path and abandoned my faith when I was 12 years old just to enjoy all the pleasures of this world... I promised to do my best to be good and not fail Him again.

I pledged my life to him. I asked Him to guide me, to show me the difference between good and evil, and to keep sending me signs. I also had one more question so I asked the Lord straight to the point: "is the Bible your word? is the Scripture divine truth, or just a juiced up history book with some fact and some fiction?"

Amazing enough, God answered again. I wont say that I heard a powerful voice from heaven, but two words came to my mind and Im pretty sure it was Him, because they were certainly not my thoughts. The two words that popped up in my brain were: "Clear and eloquent".

I realized that the Bible is also a clear message, one God wants me to read, and I would understand it. Back then I didn’t know how eloquent the Book could be, because I didn’t have one, but later I discovered that God speaks to us when we read it. It’s a mind-boggling experience. For example, I asked God about the Messiah, and He showed me the prophecies in Scripture that reveal everything we need to know about Him.

The football-playing preacher

The next day I was supposed to meet Pita at Palmetto and 67th because she was going to introduce me to the football (soccer) -playing preacher. I got there first and waited for her in front of the main building. It was a High School. That didn’t make sense to me but I waited anyway. Pita showed up, and then we were told that we could find the preacher at the cafeteria. His name was Silvano.

We went to the cafeteria and Silvano was talking to a large group of people. Preaching and teaching! Then he asked me to come forward and join him in prayer! Any other time, I would have been so embarrassed, but not this time, I was glad to do it! We started praying and tears welled up in my eyes again, because we were basically saying the same things I had said to God the night before. Then he told me to go sit down and wait for him to be finished so we would go elsewhere to talk privately.

If you are wondering, as I was, why would this guy teach and pray in a high school cafeteria and not in a proper auditorium, all I can say is this was no orthodox preacher… and I liked that. He finished and came over. I said I was so happy that I could pray in front of everybody because I had prayed the night before, in private, but for some reason I wanted to show my new faith to other people, to show them that I was a believer. Silvano replied that is what God wants, because if we should acknowledge the Lord in public, so will He recognize us when our time comes.

I told him that I didn’t use to believe but I felt that God had sent me a sign, and that he (Silvano) was part of it.

-Sure! –he said, and then repeated what Pita told me– God is knocking on your door!

I said I had tried to tell my father but he would not accept it. Silvano told me it had been just the same with him about 20 years ago, that he used to play pro soccer and behaved very badly, but when he accepted the Lord he was so excited that he ran to his mother to let her know, and all she said was that he had gone mad. Silvano said it would not be easy for others to understand, but God would guide us.

Well, I sure can testify that He has been guiding me ever since. I have witnessed amazing miracles (God healed me from a heart condition, and He healed my daughter from epilepsy,

Do miracles exist? What does the math say?

Because I love math and a I am poker aficionado, I have calculated the odds that everything I have told you in this story will happen by "chance", that is, by "coincidence."

Coincidences may exist. But what about miracles? I have my particular theory, and to call something a "coincidence" or a "miracle" at least I have to analyze what was the approximate probability that such an event would happen.

I rate something as coincidence when it has a chance of happening of 1% to 10%. More than 10% is a common event. If the probability is less than 1%, I have to consider whether there was an intentional factor that allowed the event to happen, that is, the intervention of a person. And a miracle should have a much, much smaller probability.

A basic knowledge of probability and statistics makes it possible to determine that if the mathematical probability of an event is very small, for example less than 0.1% per year, then that event will not happen in a person's lifetime.

To put it in context, let me explain in a few words how you calculate the probability of being hit by lightning, winning a game of Texas Poker with a Royal Flush of Hearts, or winning the lottery.

Wikipedia says: "The odds of an average person living in the US being struck by lightning in a given year is about 1/750,000". Suppose it was one in a million, then the probability would be 0.0001%

How can I increase the likelihood of being hit by lightning? I can go out to some park when it's raining. Suppose a person in a thousand does that. In that case if I go to the park when there is a thunderstorm, the probability of a lightning strike would increase a thousand times, to 0.1%.

Now let's imagine that every day of the year there was a thunderstorm, and every day I go out to the park, so the annual probability would be 365 * 0.1 = 36.5%

That is already a fairly high probability, but even so it is more likely that I will not be struck by lightning (63.5%). Don't do it anyway!

Texas Poker fans know that there is a combination of cards that beats any other, it is the unbeatable Royal Flush and consists of cards 10, J, Q, K and Ace, all with the same symbol or "suit".

To calculate the probability of obtaining a Royal Flush of Hearts, a mathematical formula is used that takes into account that there are 52 cards in a poker deck and 5 ways to combine them:

(52x51x50x49x48) / (5x4x3x2x1) = 311,875,200 / 120 = 2,598,960

So out of the 2,598,960 possible combinations of a hand of Texas Poker, only one can be a Royal Flush of Hearts. That is a probability of 0.000038%

It is so unlikely, that most professional poker players have never won with one. Lightning is almost 3 times more likely to hit them walking out of the casino (remember it's only 0.0001%, or 1 in a million).

Sooo... what would a professional poker player think if an opponent beats him with a Royal Flush of Hearts? I can assure you that he would think that his opponent is too lucky, and even suspect if there was foul play. But if in the next hand his rival beats him again with a Royal Flush (also of Hearts!) he would almost certainly throw the chair, sweep all the chips to the floor, call the rival a cheater and start a tremendous fight. Because every poker player knows that it is impossible to get "by chance" those cards twice in a row, and if it happens it is because there was intervention from an external person (in this case the dealer).

The last example: What are your odds of winning the lottery?

In my home country there is a very popular lottery called "ballotto". If you bought a ticket every day of your life, you would never win that lottery. Why? The ballotto works by randomly choosing 6 balls or "ballots" out of 45. That means there are 45 possibilities for the first ballot, 44 for the second, 43 for the third and so on.

If the game worked by choosing a single ballot, the probability of hitting the number would be 1/45 = 2.2%

If to win you could choose 6 ballots and get just one right, the probability would be greater: 6/45 = 13.33%

But you have to get all six ballots right! So the probability of each ballot is multiplied by that of the following ballot:

(6/45) * (5/44) * (4/43) * (3/42) * (2/41) * (1/40) = 0.000012%

That is to say, the odds of winning this lottery by buying a single ticket is 1 in 8 million.

It is 3 times more likely to win your first Texas Poker game with a Royal Flush of Hearts.

That's why I never buy the lottery! Surely no mathematician buys it. If I buy 10 thousand tickets, the probability is 0.1%, it is still almost impossible.

In other words, winning is still theoretically possible, but not likely. It would be an absolutely extraordinary event.

If one day lightning hits me it would be something very strange. But if someone gave me the gift of a "ballotto" ticket and I actually won, that would be incredible and exceptional, in fact it is more likely to be hit by lightning twice. What to say when you win the lottery and lightning strikes you, the very same day?

Well, the probability of that happening is 0.000000001%. It's so infinitesimally small that even atheist lawyers literally call it "an act of God", because assuming there was no tampering or cheating we would really be witnessing a miracle.

Let us analyze now: what is the probability that I will ask God for a sign for the first time in my life and I will receive the answer and then the confirmation of the answer. If the probability were just 1%, I would call it a simple coincidence. I actually won a car in a raffle with that probability in the year 2006. A politician raising funds for his campaign sold 100 tickets at a fairly high price each. My dad bought one for each of his children, and my ticket won. Of course I was very happy to win a new car without even having to buy the ticket, but because the probability was 1%, I was not so surprised.

If the probability that I received a "sign from heaven" was 1 in 1,000 (0.1%), I would not have been convinced either. It would be mathematically unlikely but not impossible or "supernatural."

To convince me of witnessing an "act of God," the probability must be at least similar to that of winning a lottery. The "ballotto" lottery has a 0.00001% chance. Now imagine you buy a ballotto ticket for the first time and then pray half-heartedly: "Dear God, if and only if I win this lottery I will believe that you exist and I will change my life for you". How would it feel to turn on the TV for the draw and then watch how one by one each of the ballots came out with the numbers on your ticket? Surely you would become a very convinced believer of God's existence. (But I do not recommend that you try it because such a prayer could be considered greedy and not sincere).

If you were tremendously skeptical (as I am), despite winning the lottery you would still not be convinced, and perhaps you would exclaim "nah, that was just a coincidence". But, what if then, coming out of your house with your winning ticket, lightning hit you? Would you still think it was a coincidence?

I made a sincere prayer, I wanted to know if God is real. Now I want to calculate how likely it was that a card would arrive in the mail that says “miracles exist - come to the Christian church of 67avenue and 163 street”? The kind of card that I had NEVER received, a card from the only church that has ever sent me anything in my whole life.

I guess by now all that doesn't seem extraordinary anymore, but keep in mind that the card arrived IMMEDIATELY after I asked God for a sign.

That should already be a very, very small probability (I'm going to calculate it and I promise it will be FUN), but at that moment I was not convinced. Two different churches in the same direction, that is already a rare thing. But one is for english speakers and the other for hispanics. Only during two years they shared the same address, the same time I lived in Miami. But that time was enough for the two to come to me on different paths at the right time.

Now if we are going to try to calculate the odds of the occurrence of what happened to me, as if it were a 6-ballot lottery:

1. When I was 12 I stopped believing in God, until I was 28, when I was born again. For 16 years I had never asked God for a sign. Of those 16 years, only in 2003 were there perfect conditions for me to receive the answer in the way it happened. Therefore the probability that I asked for a signal in 2003 and not before was one in 16 (Prob = 1/16)

2. In the Miami area where I was interested in living in 2003, there may be approximately 500 condos or buildings, however I only found one that offered me everything I wanted with my budget: second floor, washing machine, ceiling fan plus air conditioning, and a free month of rent!. And it just turned out to be the one next to a church that sent postcards (Prob = 1/500)

3. That church could have sent the postcard any day of the year I lived in that condo, but to coincide with the day I asked for the signal, there was only one specific day it could be sent. (Prob = 1/365)

4. If you search online you will see that there are approximately 1,000 religious temples in Miami, but only one that let a new Hispanic church use the cafeteria for its services in Miami at the same time that I had immigrated, that was the church that was next to my condo. Amazing enough, shortly after I moved away, the hispanic churh also moved to a new location (Prob = 1/1000)

5. At the time there must have been at least about 100 preachers from different churches in my country who traveled to Miami , but only that of Casa Roca was a young, former professional footballer, with a master's degree in theology, everything that was required so I would be interested in meeting him. (Prob = 1/100)

6. Pita could have never heard that Silvano was preaching in Miami, but by "chance" a family member of her who lived in our country knew someone from the Casa Roca church, who told her about Silvano. In our hometown there were about 20 churches in the north of the city where Pita's family and aqcuaintances live, but only Casa Roca was using the cafeteria of that other particular american church in the USA. (Prob = 1/20)

Now, like the ballot, all those six events had to be fulfilled, because if only one of them failed, we would not have a winning result. Therefore, the individual probability of each event must be multiplied by the following:

1/16 x 1/500 x 1/365 x 1/1000 x 1/100 x 1/20 = 0.00000000002%

That means odds of 1 in 5.9 trillion.

It is much more likely to win the ballotto. In fact it is more likely to win the ballotto and being hit by lightning the same day (0.000000001%).

In other words, the mathematical probability indicates that what happened to me, was impossible.

When the impossible happens it is called a miracle, because God made it possible.

This is how God has chosen to speak to me ... and he has done many more miracles. They all fill me with joy, much more than winning the lottery. I could go on and on with more examples, but then this would become a long biography.

I will finish with something that I did read that same day that my new life started, in an abandoned little book I found at work:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

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