You Decide

I don't really know how I want to start this particular blog. In fact, I'm not even 100% sure that I know what this is really going to be about. I have a couple of thoughts floating around in my brain like drift wood in the gutter after a thunderstorm has swept through. I have been thinking though and that is where this has all started.

I've been thinking about the difference in some of my friends. I have a couple of friends that have made changes to their belief systems. Both were people that, when I was in more regular and constant contact with them, were deeply devoted to following and serving Jesus. Now, I can't say that really about either one. One is now an agnostic and the other is...well I'm not sure. Both however have turned their backs on what they once professed to believe. One is the child of a pastor and one was once a campus ministry intern, youth pastor and missionary.

I have questions for them, and yet at this point they remained unasked. I want to know what it was that brought about the changes in their lives, what made them turn their backs on that which they once professed to believe so strongly. What kind of experience did they have that led them to this place and point in their lives. These are the things that I would like to know, to help me understand.

I mention this because I was thinking about one of my cousins today. He and his wife were supposed to have their first baby this coming February, and yet have found out that there is something wrong, that the baby, a girl, has a rare disorder which will steal life from her and joy from her expectant parents.

I mention this because I have a friend who lost his baby boy only minutes after he was born. He held him in his arms for mere moments before he was gone, back to eternity, back to the arms of Jesus.

I mention this because I have other friends who have gone through multiple attempts to start a family and have just now in the last few months seen this hope of blessing come to pass.

I mention this because through all of these experiences, the faith of these people has been shaken no doubt, but it has remained. They have chosen to lean further into the arms of Jesus for comfort and peace (even when it seemed that they would not find it, even there)...they have not turned away.

In this end I believe that it comes down to a choice that we make. This thing we call faith, it is a choice that we make. And the thing about it is, we must make this choice each and every day, to walk with Jesus, trusting in him and in God, believing that even when there seems to be no obvious evidence of his presence in our surroundings and situations, that he is there. We choose to believe, even when God is silent in our lives.

It is a daily choice that we make. It is a choice that we make not only in the times when things are good and easy. No, we must make the choice even on the days when it seems that all hope is lost, or was never there in the first place.

Joshua 24:15 says to "choose this day whom you will serve." As I have thought about that I see that everyday is "this day" and we must choose whom it is we will serve. There will always be times that are good and there will always be times that are hard or even seem impossible. We must choose each day whom we will serve. Will it be God, even in the times that he seems to be silent? Or will we choose to serve our circumstances and situations and bow before them and let them lead and guide us through the day?

Hebrews 11:1 says that "Faith is be sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we can not see." Will we choose each day that sureness and certainty, or will we choose to fall away into hopelessness and uncertainty? The choice is ours. Peace and Love y'all.