Deus ex Machina, secundus secui

In my original Deus ex Machina post, I had spoken about the entire human condition and the fate of the entire Human race. Due to our inherent nature, we are doomed to fail, doomed to death, and doomed to destruction. A Dystopian future looms in our collective horizon; squalor, teeming masses of sick and poor, war and death, catastrophes and ill-fated horror... all these are what awaits us, should we continue marching on the inexorable path that we have already laid our feet upon. As I stated before, though, there is a Deus ex Machina that awaits us; the Perfect Plot Twist, the real God on a Machine, awaits the perfect timing set forth by His Father to arrive.

All that said, though, I believe that within the Plot that is the Human Race, there has to be individual chapters to make up the entire Plot. I suppose that every human life is its own chapter, although that may not be the best analogy. Perhaps, we ought to look at the entire Plot as a giant tapestry, with individual lives acting as the threads in the tapestry. Robert Jordan wrote a little about this in his Wheel of Time series, but I don't believe that he touched on it as well as he could, nor do I believe that he approached this idea from a biblical standpoint. As we live with and interact with one another, more of the Plot is revealed, more of the Tapestry is woven, and as time progresses, entire themes are soon apparent within the Plot, and beautiful designs are shown on the Tapestry.

Reflecting on my life, I can see many themes and plot twists that have occurred at key moments. Remember: the key definition of deus ex machina is that it is an improbable character, artifact, device, or event that is introduced at the pivotal moment without which the character or main characters of a story cannot escape from. How many times within my own life have I been trapped in a corner, painted there by my own irrational behavior, only to be extracted by the deus ex machina of my life?

One example comes straight from the war, and is slightly amusing. During the Invasion of Iraq, we experienced the worst sandstorm that has been seen in Iraq in over fifty years; literally, it was called the Mother Of All Sandstorms, or the MOASS. We had set up a small Combat Operations Center during the previous night, to provide communications, tactical and logistical support to the lead battalion that was only a few miles up the road. Then, sometime during the night, the MOASS started up and the lead battalion was withdrawn to help provide security around our small COC. Later during the morning the wind was so bad that we had to tear down all of our antennas; none of my Marines were answering their radios, so I decided to trudge through the sandstorm to give the command verbally. By this time, the storm was so bad that I could barely see a foot in front of me; I had to follow the large, 26-Pair cable that linked the combined radio antennas to the radios down in the COC. I arrived at AntHill, gave the command, and started trudging back; however, I hadn't counted on my Marines being so technically proficient, nor as speedy as they ended up being. About half-way back to the COC, the hock-end of the 26-Pair cable went whizzing past me. There I was, standing in the middle of Iraq, smack-dab in between the Antenna Hill and the COC, about 200 yards from the literal front lines of the invasion, and stuck in the worst sandstorm in fifty years.

I tried to remain calm, but I'll be honest; there was a tinge of panic involved. I tried to walk in a straight line, but the wind was obviously blowing me off course. I walked for an undetermined time, then stopped, and just started praying. I know that I had walked past the COC. I could have walked less than three feet away from the tents, and I would have missed them because of the sandstorm! As I stood there praying, however, a noise caught my attention: incredibly, I heard something honking. My hand in front of my face to block out some of the grit that was trying to peel the skin from my face, I peered into the wall of sand; sure enough, I could also see a slight glow coming from the same direction as the horn.

I followed the light and the noise, and incredibly I stumbled across the very last Hummvee on the line... anything further than that vehicle, and I would have been walking in enemy territory, and probably would have been lost for quite some time. I could have even ended up as a Prisoner Of War.

But there was that Deus ex Machina that was introduced at exactly the right time.

What makes that story so very interesting is that I can see the plot twist as it occurred directly in my life, but how it directly affected 3,000 other Marines, as well. See, our Regimental Combat Team 5 was headed directly into an Iraqi Division-sized ambush; for those who don't know tactics or military lingo, a Division is significantly larger than a Regiment. If we had continued pushing forward at the same speed and intensity as we had been prior to the MOASS, we would have stumbled into a killing field. However, because of the MOASS, we halted all forward movement and Saddam grew impatient and started moving those units around, thus exposing them to our surveillance. We were able to locate and identify the Iraqi Division, and subsequently attack and destroy them, all because of this massive sandstorm. If we had continued on, the chances of RCT-5 making it out of that ambush fully intact were slim to none.

Deus ex Machina.

Another example is in my financial life. I started my power washing business in 2004, with a substantial amount of money and many great expectations. I built up a great client base, and by early 2007 the business had many awesome clients and a steady amount of money rolling in. By all standards, Marathon Pressure Systems was doing great. However, a series of calamities were awaiting me; some clients moved on. I tore the rotator cuff in my right shoulder, causing an excruciating amount of pain on a daily basis. I had a large maintenance expense that I didn't foresee. I suddenly owed a substantial amount of money to the IRS. In the middle of everything, gas prices were rising, we purchased a home and moved, and my shoulder continued to deteriorate. By the end of 2007, things had declined to the point that I had stopped taking incoming clients because of my shoulder, and the clients that I did have were not paying on time.

In January of 2008, I started a job search, to supplement the business. I applied all over the place, only to receive the same response: No education? No job. My lack of a college degree was limiting me to two or three basic occupations: Janitor. Construction Worker. Security Guard. People especially liked me as a Security Guard because of my military background; however, that just didn't cut the mustard, for me. I finally was accepted for an interview with the Tucson Police Department, as a police dispatcher. I wouldn't have to do any strenuous labor on my shoulder, and the pay was good.

I started counting on the TPD job to rescue me from my financial situation. As the interviews with TPD progressed, things in my life continued to regress. We missed a month's mortgage. We started paying our bills selectively, trying to juggle and balance them so that no one bill would get too bad. And the more this occurred, the more I was counting on TPD to rescue me. God was suddenly taking a back seat to the Tucson Police Department.

Last week, I received the news that the TPD was wanting to hire me... in August of 2008. August! I was crushed. There was no way that I could wait that long! Bills have been stacking up, I've been putting off creditors, my refrigerator has been getting more and more empty, and my shoulder has been getting worse and worse.

Where is my Deus ex Machina? There is no way I can rescue myself from this situation.

I know that the Plot Twist is coming. I can feel it, just over the horizon. I know, now, why the Deus ex Machina hasn't come into operation yet; it is because I thought I wouldn't need a Plot Twist. I thought I had the entire plot figured out, from beginning to end! How can I be rescued, unless I realize that I need rescuing? You can't save a drowning man, if he doesn't realize that he's drowning!

My Deus ex Machina is coming... I know it.