The past week has been a blessing. Family. Friends. Good weather. Storms. Food. Fellowship. The only way it would be better would be for my bride to be with me! If Only… Then What?
Mom and I had a discussion last week about opportunities we’ve taken, and skipped. What would life have been like if only… Then what? We drown in the thought of missed chances to a different life in pondering the “if’s” and “only’s”. The key to this thought is in the second phrase. “Then What?”
In many Science Fiction stories there’s the thought that we have parallel universes. What works here, doesn’t in that next-door sliver of time. Or maybe it does. Who knows? But the choices and options are endless when you consider the opportunities may have taken you down a different path. If so, then what would the ending be like?
If we had never gone to Alaska, what other choices might we have made? If we never left Alaska, then what would that opportunity have been like? Suppose my sister had paused longer at a light, taken a different route, or the weather tossed a few possibilities of results. Would she still be gone?
It’s an impossible scenario of asking these questions because we have no clue what the ending could possibly be. We don’t know what those missed choices might have produced down that path.
Options? Are They Really Worth It?
Options Are Minefields! What you cannot see from your perspective may just be the most dangerous path ahead! If Only…Then What?
Of course, options are what we study every day. Which stock should be buy, when do we sale, or hold on for dear life as the roller coaster threatens to bottom out and we lose our shirts?
When learning to code programs we were taught to flow out the logic, look for the gotcha’s, and prepare to act and react!
But here’s my thought today. If you never take a chance to move one way or the other, you will never move from where you are right now.
Always do what you’ve always done,
You’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.
Maybe, Yes. Maybe, No.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over
But expecting different results!
Here’s My Thought
There’s trouble brewing in Israel. Well, it might have been 3,000 years ago, but we know it as if it were yesterday.
The King (Ahab) and the nation are struggling with choices. Two prophets, Obadiah and Elijah are involved in this scenario. Elijah challenges the King and the Nation:
“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”
1 Kings 18:21 (KJV)
Another English translation says it like this: “How long will you go limping between two opinions?” Make up your mind. Follow Baal, or Follow God!
Read the chapter and you’ll find that the prophets of Baal, 450 in number, cannot stand against the challenge of the prophet who has God on his side!
Elijah was willing to stand up to greater numbers because God was on his side! But in the very next chapter, he’s afraid of a single woman. Jezebel.
What happened? The power of a single person sometimes forces our hand, even though God just gave us a victory. If Only… What if?
The Power of Knowing What To Do
Sometimes we don’t know what to do, or how to handle a situation, or respond to a challenge. David, as a lad, knew God was on his side when Goliath reared us ugly mug. (1 Samuel 17) He recites his victories against a lion and bear, and gives credit to God’s deliverance. Is Goliath any different? What makes him worse than the other challengers?
Maybe the answer is found in knowing who’s on your side, and, are you doing right accepting the challenge?
Remember the story about Jesus, when challenged by a sinful situation, instead of slandering someone he simply knelt and wrote in the sand. “Woman? Where are you accusers?… Go… Sin no more…” What power he gave her to step into a better option of choice and become something she might never have thought possible. Was this one of the women who stood at the foot of the cross? Met the angel at the tomb on resurrection morning?
I like to think so!
Repaired. Prepared. Stepping out and doing what needs to be done!
What do you need to be doing? How can you be better prepared for making better choices?
Solid Foundations Produce
Better Options and Choices
Through my choices in life, some have produced better results than others. But I’ve generally always kept my focus on a certain path. “Prior Proper Planning Prevents Problems,” I used to say all the time, but better should be my thought of determining God’s plan for my next step.
I research God’s plan for my life through avenues of Prayer, Wise Counsel, and understanding the power of choice. What does the Word say about what I am perhaps thinking about?
I cannot help but consider the Apostle Paul as he is wrapping up his final journey. Death is around the corner. What wise words will he share with his last known letter?
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
The Word is Profitable. Teaching. Reproof. Correction. Training. For Right Living. So that we may be Complete and equipped for “every good work!”
As I leave Kentucky and Tennessee… Family, Friends and Choices. I cannot help but consider, if only, then what?