Choices

A few years ago I was happily winging my way toward Monterrey Bay in my wife’s PT Cruiser. The stereo was blaring classic rock, I had just finished an In-N-Out Double Double and had an ice cold Diet Coke in the cupholder. Everything was great.

Then, only 45 miles from my destination the car began to act funny. As I pulled up to a stoplight in Los Banos, the car began to make a crunching noise. Then it wouldn’t go. You don’t have to be a master mechanic to know that these are bad things.

Sure enough, the transmission had imploded. I was almost 500 miles from home, and I had broken my wife’s car!

If you rewound my life back about a year and a half to when we first bought the car, you would find something very cool. I was offered an extended warranty by the dealership. Because I was trying to pinch pennies, I had decided not to buy the extra coverage. Then the voodoo witch doctor dealer finance guy informed me I could get a better interest rate if I bought the extended warranty. Even I could see that spending more to pay less was a good thing, so I bought the policy. Once again, God looked out for the dummy!

It was this policy that paid for the rental car that I used to go to my speaking engagement, get home, and then back to pick up Lanette’s car. It also paid for a new transmission to be put in the PT so it would make it back home. And I almost didn’t get it.

If I had been as shortsighted as I had planned to be, I would have been in a world of hurt. I would have been out over $2000 for the repairs alone, not to mention a rental or anything else. Instead, I had to pay for gas and a $50 deductible. Lanette and I made a mini vacation out of going to get the car, and everything was good.

Isn’t it amazing how our lives can be changed and affected by just one decision, one moment in a lifetime of moments?

Many people I know tell me, “One of these days I need to go to your church.” Or, “I know I need to follow Christ, I just haven’t gotten around to it. But I will.” And yet, for all of these people, days slip into months, months slip into years, and eternity is always looming around the corner.

William James said, “When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.” Have you ever thought about the fact that not deciding to follow Christ is the same as deciding not to follow Him?

Life is all about choices.

Max Jukes lived in New York. He did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go. He has had 1,026 descendants; 300 were sent to prison for an average term of thirteen years; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 were admitted alcoholics. His family, thus far, has cost the state in excess of $420,000. They made no contribution to society.

Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes. He loved the Lord and saw that his children were in church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to the best of his ability. He has had 929 descendants, and of these 430 were ministers; 86 became university professors; 13 became university presidents; 75 authored good books; 7 were elected to the United States Congress. One was Vice President of his nation. His family never cost the state one cent but has contributed immeasurably to the life of plenty in this land today.

Choices. Some big, some small. Some important for this earth, some important for generations and all of eternity. Can we afford to choose wrongly, or shortsightedly? I don’t think so.

Trying to choose wisely each day… Jerry