The 3 Rs part 2 Consider the proposition, "Everything happens for a reason.". What does this mean?

I can think of at least two very different intepretations for this little nugget. I'm pretty sure that I've heard both of these senses in ordinary conversation.

First, when presented with truly unexpected data a lab scientist can't use the data to support or falsify a proposed theory. This doesn't mean that they just throw the material away. The unexpected data is a sign that either something interesting is happening or there's wrong with the set up (has the animal colony been infected?, is there a leak somewhere that's letting heat escape? ). One can also easily imagine a plumber or electrician using the same reasoning. Presented with some unexpected occurence in either the plumbing or electrical system, they're at least as likely to say "Everything happens for reason" and then go looking for the reason as they are to shrug and say "You know sometimes things just happen." How many cars have been completely taken apart by enthusiats working on this sort of motivation? We could call the "effecient" interpretation of the truism.

Second, we could compare this to the "teleogical" interpretation, that the event that requires an explanation will receive an explanation not from its causal antecedents, but from its place in some larger scheme of things. That larger scheme, may or may not correspond to the plans of a grand designer (and who has set things up according to their own reasons).

Modern and Enlightenment figures tend to be committed to the first interpretation over the second. What evidence could there be for either of them being true?
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