"So, friends, confirm God's invitation to you, his choice of you. Don't put it
off; do it now. Do this, and you'll have your life on a firm footing, the
streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and
Savior, Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:10-11 The Message)
"My choice is you, GOD, first and only. And now I find I'm your choice!" (Ps
16:5 The Message)
Choices. We are faced with them everyday. Some are good choices. These are the
ones that make us feel that life is worthwhile. Others are bad choices, the ones
we regret, especially if they hurt our loved ones.
One cannot go through life without making life-changing choices. Look at Adam
and Eve. They had a choice to make: obey God or to listen to the insinuations of
the evil one. It sounds pretty simple, actually; but was it more complex than we
may think?
Last Saturday evening I was facing a myriad of choices. It started with a good
choice: to surprise my family by taking them out for dinner. I could have opted
for my own personal favorite: hamburgers à la home, but instead I chose to take
them to my kids' favorite restaurant.
My kids' excitement could hardly be contained once they heard about their good
fortune; but when we arrived at our chosen destination, we couldn't help but
notice that the parking lot was empty and the building was completely dark.
Except for a few Christmas lights that is, but since it was already mid-January,
this, in itself, was worrisome!
"Look guys!" I said, trying to sound cheerful. "We're early! We'll be the first
ones served!" But it obviously wasn't meant to be. When my kids jumped out of
the car and tried the door, we all knew it was an effort in futility. Especially
when we saw the yellow piece of paper taped to the door: Due to an overabundance
of competition, this restaurant was closed for an indefinite period of time.
Suddenly I found myself faced with more choices: We could go back home for
hamburgers, or we could go to Taco Bell down the street, where at least we would
be served quickly. Neither of these choices really demonstrated love, however.
The first one was to satisfy myself, and the second one was too cheap. So we did
the next best thing: We went to a restaurant that my wife and I had recently
discovered. We had found it to be similar to the one my boys liked, both in
price and menu, and though the boys had never eaten there, I was sure they would
like it just as much.
As we neared the plaza where the restaurant was located, we noticed the parking
lot was jammed with cars. Another decision had to be made, and I quickly
encouraged my wife to jump out of the car (not while I was driving! I love my
wife!) To reserve us a spot while I tried to find a parking place.
We were quite blessed to find one right next to the restaurant, but as I was
parking, a truck started honking its horn. When I looked up, the driver was
waving frantically, as if trying to get our attention.
"What now?" I muttered.
"Papa, Mom dropped her gloves on the road when she got out," my older son
informed me.
Before I could say a word, both of my gallant knights jumped out of the car and
ran to rescue their mother's winter gloves. As the parking lot was a literal
frenzy of activity, I quickly jumped out myself. I wanted to make sure my boys
stayed in one piece! I was relieved when they were already back with their
mother's gloves by the time I had closed the car door. My relief was short lived
however, for that's when I discovered that in my haste, I had left the engine
running, the headlights on, and of course, the keys in the ignition. Quite
naturally, I had NOT forgotten to lock the doors!
I now had another choice to make: Get upset and start yelling, or calmly say,
"It's okay, we'll call CAA." (That's the Canadian version of AAA - No, not AA!)
I have to confess that I started out with the first option, but it didn't take
me long to realize that it was me I was really mad at. And since it's pretty
hard to yell at yourself, I calmed down quickly enough. After all, everyone
makes mistakes sometimes. Even the one who is supposed to be driving the car!
When my wife returned, we learned that there was a 45 minute wait to be seated.
Oh well, we weren't going anywhere anyway! And when we were told that we would
have to wait 30 minutes for CAA, it didn't even upset me. Why not wait for two
things at once?
Now there were more choices to make: We could wait inside where it was warm, or
we could stay outside in the icy wind. For some strange reason we opted to stay
outside. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the restaurant's lobby was packed
with people, or maybe it had to do with the fact that we needed to be somewhere
where we could watch for the CAA truck. It didn't take long for icicles to begin
forming under our noses however, and we were once again faced with choices: We
could try to keep warm by walking around the plaza, or we could continue to
stand in one spot and freeze.
You can probably guess which one we chose. Although we've lived in Canada for 19
years, our blood is still of the Arizona type! Walking around the plaza brought
about a new dilemma, however. Half of the time we couldn't see our car. What if
CAA showed up and we weren't there?
After our first round of the plaza, I volunteered to stay by the car. Because
freezing was still a concern however, and besides, I hadn't reached my daily
goal of 10,000 steps yet, I decided to continue to walk back and forth, back and
forth, in front of the restaurant. Or at least, this is what I did until I
noticed that the people inside the restaurant were staring at me!
When CAA finally showed up and bailed us out of our dilemma, we were happy
enough to enter that crowded warm lobby! We had no difficulty at all making that
choice!
When my wife again asked about the wait time, we were told we had another 20
minutes. More time to kill. Since my personal pedometer, or whatever that little
black box that counts my steps is called, revealed that I still hadn't reached
my 10,000 steps for the day, I excused myself for the washroom, taking my oldest
son with me. He could watch the door while I quickly "jogged" my remaining
steps!
It was nearly 15 minutes before I reappeared. By this time my wife was dancing
on the spot. "Are you okay?" She asked. "You've been gone forever!"
"Uh, I was relieving myself . . . Step-wise!" I lamely admitted.
I briefly saw her eyes begin to roll before her dancing turned into a jog and
she disappeared in the direction of the women's room. I couldn't help but feel a
little bit guilty, but I quickly pushed it aside. Maybe she was short some steps
of reaching her goal as well!
We were finally seated, and the waitress took our order. Apparently there was
some kind of a malfunction in the kitchen however, because it took them 50
minutes to bring us our appetizer, Nachos, dripping with melted cheese. Yum!
We "licked the platter clean" so to speak, in just a few minutes, but our wait
wasn't over yet . People who were seated after us were served before us and I
was beginning to wonder if I had made the waitress dizzy with my walking outside
in the cold. I had the opportunity to make yet another choice: to complain, or
to enjoy the company of my family and let my wife do the complaining! I opted
for the later. Quite naturally, her complaining didn't do any good. We still had
to wait!
When we were finally served, we were so tired of waiting that we even forfeited
the opportunity to have desert. We had been at the restaurant for two hours and
35 minutes, and I was faced with another choice: Should I leave a penny for the
waitress, or should I leave her a nice tip? I opted for leaving her 10% instead
of the normal 15%, and knew it was a good choice when she didn't stick her foot
out to trip me when I exited the building!
It is amazing how good you feel when you make the right choice and how lousy you
feel when you make the wrong one. Whenever you choose to brighten someone's
life, it's the right choice. Whenever your decision is made for selfish reasons,
the results are always bitter.
Sooner or later we all have to make the choice of whether to follow God or not,
and the results of this choice have eternal significance. Making no choice at
all is still a choice, because no choice at all is a choice against God! I would
hate for anyone to miss the boat and find themselves on the wrong side of the
fence on Judgment Day!
I hope that your choices will be beneficial today. One tip though: Make sure to
take your car keys OUT of the ignition when you shut and lock your car door. It
may make your life somewhat more comfortable. Warmer anyway!
"But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Josh 24:15 NKJV)
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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