THE CHOICE WE'RE GIVEN

Do you want to know what the most annoying thing in the world is? Well, even if you don’t, I’m going to tell you anyway. So if you don’t want to know, I’d suggest you quit reading this. The most annoying thing in the world is being late for something and having to sit and wait for a train to pass. And of course it’s always the longest trains you’ve ever had to wait on when you’re running late, aren’t they?

Well, that was exactly my predicament the other day. I can’t even remember right now what I was late for, but I got to the only track in town and, of course, the barriers were going down, the lights were flashing, and although I could see the train, it was still a half a mile away.
So as I’m sitting and waiting I start counting the cars. I don’t know who ever thought of that idea, but I think it’s the dumbest idea on the planet, ‘cause after about car number 50 I started getting a little nauseous. So not only was I late, I was probably going to throw up when I got there.

I started trying to figure out what I could do to pass the next five to ten minutes of my life. I could always call someone, but I have a hard time staying within my allotted amount of minutes on my cell, so I opted not to talk to anyone. Then it hit me, and it always amazes me how God chooses to speak to me, but when he does, it’s pretty cool. Anyway, so I’m sitting there waiting on the train to get by me when I started thinking about how a train can’t go anywhere but where its tracks lead it. At that time the train finally got done and I went ahead and got to wherever I was going, but I made a voice note on my cell phone. It said, “Trains don’t have a choice but to go where their tracks lead them. I don’t quite know where God’s leading me on this, but I’m sure it’s somewhere.” Yeah, I know. I’m a big dork. I mean, who leaves messages for themselves on their phones? And now you’re laughing ‘cause you do it, too, don’t you?

Anyway, to get back to the part where God’s speaking to me…I really couldn’t concentrate on what I was doing that night. I just had to figure out why God would make me start thinking about trains and tracks and choices and paths. Then about three months later I figured it out. Are you ready for this? All right. If you say so.

We’ve all been faced with decisions in our lives, some are just little decisions like what to wear to an interview, but some are huge, life altering decisions, like who to marry or should I just go ahead and have sex or should I wait till I’m married? I can handle the little decisions. It’s not hard to figure out what I want to eat for lunch or what shoes I’m going to wear with what outfit. It’s the big ones that I have a hard time with. These will change my life. If I make the wrong decision, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. If I make the right decision, then it will all work out. I mean, how do we really know what decision to make?

Then I started thinking about the train. Trains have no choice but to go where their
tracks lead them. The track has been laid, and all someone has to do is get in the train and drive it to its next destination. The engineer can’t decide one day that he doesn’t like any of the restaurants in the town where he’s going so he’ll just make a turn and go a little bit further out of his way to get a Whopper. He has to go where the tracks lead him, and if he gets off the tracks, it could be disastrous.

If you really sit and think about it, both ways have their advantages and disadvantages. Take for instance the tracks. It’d be nice to go around and live life without ever having to make a decision about where you’re going. On the other hand, what if along the track there’s a hole that you hit every time ‘cause you can’t drive around it? This hole gets bigger and bigger every time you hit it until it completely engulfs your engine and the train is stuck there with no hope until it gets fixed.

Then if you look at the other way of life, the way where we have to make the decisions and don’t have to follow tracks to a predestined place, we have to make the decisions. If we make a good decision, our lives can change for the better in a heartbeat. If we make a bad decision, in that same instant, we can feel like our lives have been totally ruined.

So which way of life do you choose? I didn’t have to think very long about which version I favored. I want to be able to choose what path I take. The thing about it is, I know I’m going to make some bad, life-altering decisions. Hopefully not too many. The coolest part about it, though, is that with each and every decision that I’m faced with, I go to God to figure out what He wants me to do. Through these decisions, my relationship with God only grows stronger. I’m living a fuller life because of Him and His leading me over the tracks.

I just want to challenge you today. If you’re stuck going down the same set of tracks because of a decision you have made or a decision that somebody made for you, I want you to cause a derailment. Stop everything and do whatever you can to get off those tracks. It’s only when you start thinking for yourself and finding out what God’s will is for your life that you’ll really start to live.