If Not Hell then what?

[The Reality Salesman01]

Maybe you do not understand what luck is. Luck is occasional happenstance that results in unmerited good fortune, not a way of life.

WRONG! Lol...Not laughing at you and you're not totally wrong. I just changed my image to the Genie from Aladdin, and recall Robin Williams voice yelling that at something Aladdin said that was incorrect, but, I digress. Luck can be defined quite simply as the point where two lines intersect. The line of preparation, and the line of opportunity. If you are prepared for something at the time and a seemingly unlikely opportunity presents itself, the results of your accomplishment could be construed as luck. It just depends on the level of your preparation. If i've never play the lottery, I'm never prepared to win it, and with no ticket, the opportunity doesn't exist. In the event that I purchase a ticket, and the numbers I chose are drawn, I was prepared with the ticket complete with numbers, and the opportunity presented itself for my numbers to be worth money. Its no more than that. There are tons of other variables in this analogy alone that can be chalked up to a series of the two things: Preparation and Opportunity. There is no example of something deemed as luck or a blessing that can't be broke down to the same basic outline.

people can not run a business off of luck A company can not cover operational costs depending on the occasional good thing happening. Larger companies do not buy out smaller ones because they are lucky. Mechanics are not given engineering jobs because they are lucky and figure things out that proper engineers can't.

Sure they can! If you follow the outline. Try to apply it, and come up with your own way to understand it using the two line principle. It's certainly possible.

What Makes this something more than luck is the consistency needed to support and maintain the level we operate at everyday. From unsolicited work, to being awared major contracts from business we have never dealt with and/or never even heard of before. (Things happen out of the blue.)

Wrong! Your contradicting yourself a bit here and not being fair with the determining factors of things that are lucky. If you are prepared, and the opportunity presents itself to maximize business, you can hardly say that the successful outcome you are able to derrive from it "came out of the blue"! If I read that right. You seem to be confusing luck with a miracle! If I'm reading your refutation of luck correctly, and I believe I am. You are actually arguing against miracles, which I agree, are absurd. Me waking up to be an owner of a successful business that I know nothing about, and being able to single handedly make it flourish, would be a miracle, luck could not be applied to such a scenario. I would not be prepared, and it wasn't an opportunity. It would just be a bizzare happenstance, positive in nature, and for which, no logical reason could ever be had as it does not correlate with reality. A miracle is merely another unfounded claim of an extraordinary event manifesting from transcendant intervention in human affairs.These are things that have never been proved. Its jamming God into things you don't fully understand because you want it to be true. You sell yourself short here.It doesn't mean understanding cannot be achieved. Luck happens all the time! But, take credit where its due. You were prepared, you put in the work, and you took advantage of a good opportunity. You did this. It wasn't anything else!

This isn't a one week, one month thing. We've been in business for over 10 years, and it started out with a unsolicited loan for 25K from a Jewish man that I had only ever met in passing once.

A loan you can apply to your business? If you did not have the business or at least the idea for one that seemed profitable, you would not be prepared for such a lucky opportunity! Keep this in mind. Lets see another one...

(I did not even know his name when he approached me.)

Irrelavant...

From that the Lord has effectively doubled this business every year.

I'm having a hard time finding justification for this plug-in, considering the logical explanation provided above for luck being preparation and opportunity.

even in the great depression we are just coming out of. We've done this consistently with out the tools or typical education needed to work and operate on the level we have been able to acheaive, and maintain. While other better suited companies in this field have closed up shop.

You and the other companies were both prepared. The opportunity that your company was fortunate enough to come by, did not present itself in the same way to the others. The lines didn't intersect for them as you say they did for you. Perfectly understandable. No need to plug in Genies.

You can dismiss my work here on this site, my business, and my maritial relationship any way other than luck. As there has been far too many coincidences to be considered just luck.

Nobody is dismissing anything or discrediting you. You are discrediting yourself by chalking up your accomplishments to an unworthy explanation. Luck is a perfectly understandable occurence, and its not magic. It can be explained at every turn. Its a fortunate turn of events but its restricted to the type of occurence for which luck could be given as a description of it and the predictibility of the outcome. A fighter pilot avoiding an intercepting missile that never misses can rightfully describe his situation as luck, due to the unlikely nature of his experience but he was prepared with the ability to maneuver the aircraft. Luck is certainly contingent on being prepared and having the opportunity to achieve unlikely positive results. Lacking the understanding of ALL the contributing factors isn't necessary, but unlikely things can happen if there are variables in place that can make it possible. All you need is the variables, the outcome can be construed as luck based on the level of predicability for the "lucky" outcome. Take a step back, and understand what's being said. Nobody is discrediting you, we're just trying to get you to see that there's a rational understanding, anything else is illusory. Just watch sports! Professional athletes get lucky too. Nobody is saying they're not good at what they do simply because they had a lucky break that allowed wind to drift the ball between goal posts, or off the leg of an opponent, or between the legs of a goalie. Shit happens bro. It's not magic.