A Remarkable Coincidence

  

In the wonderful world of the blogosphere, Zion Beckons has reached an early landmark. Today we reached our 10,000th visitor. Part of the fun of having a blog is watching the StatCounter to see exactly who is reading, where they’re from, and seeing their point of origin. With hits from nearly every state and continent over the time of our existence, we find exotic locations, large metro areas and Podunk towns all over the world in the data. Every conceivable operating system, browser, ISP, screen size, etc.., is detailed in the report which gives us a data base to attempt to understand our readers.

I eagerly kept checking to see who, and where, the 10,000th would be. Would it come from a far away place like Brisbane, Australia, Singapore, Kenya, or Bolivia? Independence, Missouri, the Los Angeles basin, or the crowded northeast corridor of the United States would be more statistically likely since we draw heavily from those areas. When the moment finally came I discovered that the landmark hit came from—drum roll please—Las Vegas, Nevada!

The data then provided the information which I knew would follow. It was an AOL subscriber, whose OS, screen size, and browser matched the particulars which I could easily identify as belonging to one of my oldest and dearest living friends. I first met this individual in the 7th grade some 65 years ago. Over the following years we became a unit, married, had three children and shared our lives until the late seventies. As a result of my mis-behavior, we separated and continued on different paths.

In a classic study of repentance (mine) and forgiveness (hers) we renewed our friendship and it has grown stronger with each passing year. Our spouses, both saints in their own right, round out the foursome and share in the results of our past union. Even though separated by over 1400 miles, we exchange family visits and engage in near constant communication.

Although not a daily visitor to the site, she is a frequent reader and the actual odds boil down to about 1 in a 100. As a one time beneficiary of 5000 to 1 odds in Vegas, I don’t see this as a totally remarkable result but then again….. ?

So, “Sam”, thank you for your kind attention to Zion Beckons. There is no contest result of fabulous prizes. I guess you shall just have to settle for a “free” trip to Las Vegas.


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon